The Lesser of Two Evils
by n0b0dys-ang31
Summary: COMPLETE Harry Potter sends a letter to the most unlikely of people, seeking death. Harry& Hermione& Draco, Ron& (female)Blaise& OC. Don't read if that offends you
1. The Lesser of Two Evils

A/N: This is just a plot I thought up while taking a shower one morning and it's been bouncing around my head for almost two months now. So, I'm gonna write it down. Oh- those of you who really think Fred and George, or Hermione's parents are cool shouldn't read this. They're bad guys but have a reason for it. Also, I own none of the characters in the Harry Potter world, but I do own what I have written I got the idea for this from reading all those Severus Snape equals Harry Potter's father, but I am following no challenges. Do not read this if you don't like an evil Dumbledore, abused, powerful Evil Harry, Lily/Severus pairing, and abused, powerful, evil Ron and abused, powerful, evil Hermione. Also, all though I am trying not to give away the plotline, it will contain an eventual Harry/Hermione/Draco pairing, and an eventual (female) Blaise/Ron/OC pairing (well, threesomes, more like it. Threesomes...... yay... :)) OH, and THIS IS COMPLETE. There may be a sequel or two, and it is HELLA long to type all at once!!!!!  
  
Also, I have separated the story into twenty page segments, hopefully there will be four to five of them. They ARE NOT chapter breaks, merely breaks to negate any problems with uploading. THEY ARE ALL THERE, or will be all there when I finish. Don't read this as chapters. IF you must stop reading, do it at a time break or something!  
  
That being said, read and enjoy!  
  
** A crisp Autumn day, 1997- Harry's sixth year  
  
** Draco walked alone, having ditched his goons somewhere around the Great Hall. Presumably they were currently stuffing their faces- their favorite pastime. He made his way out the Entrance Hall and onto the grounds, enjoying what could very well be the last warm day before the winter snows dumped on them. He calmly strode, the Slytherin Prince, over to the lake to sit at his favorite spot under an ancient weeping willow right on the lakefront.  
  
_ I take my Mark at the beginning of Winter Holiday,_ he thought ruefully. I heard it's incredibly painful. He stared at his unblemished forearm thoughtfully, imagining the rather unattractive burn that would be etched there in just a few months. _I don't know if this is what I really want, but Dumbledore's just as bad, if not worse. I wish I could talk to Uncle Sev about this, but no one must know._ His feet led him to his spot and he sat down gracefully against the smooth trunk, when...  
  
"What the- Potter?? What are you doing here?" he snapped, unwittingly sitting next to his rival and archenemy.  
  
Harry shrugged, a goofy expression on his face. "Make yourself at home, Malfoy. Pull up a bit of grass." He went back to slowly inhaling on an odd smelling cigarette.  
  
Draco leaned forward, sniffing. "Potter, is that- WEED???" he yelped, staring at Harry as if he had grown an extra head.  
  
"Yup, finest Wizarding Weed in the British Isles. Want some?" Harry asked dreamily, floating about three inches off the ground.  
  
"Erm, no, that's all right," Draco answered, confused. _Why is the Savior of the Wizarding World getting stoned off his ass?_ "I guess I can really call you Pothead and it'll be the truth."  
  
"Yup, oh well. Suit yourself. This is really good shit." Harry went back to toking up with a sad smile.  
  
Draco stared at him for a minute, before sighing. "As your archrival at school and the person who found you, I guess it's my civic duty to ask you what's wrong. So, why are you using pot?"  
  
Harry sniffed, a deep pain surfacing in his eyes. "Do you really want to know or are you just asking in the hope that I'll get mad and stomp off?" He turned to Draco, an unexpected hope lighting his eyes.  
  
Draco stared at him, an unreadable expression on his face. The hope in Harry's eyes dimmed and died. He turned back around. "Figures. I guess I'll just get mad and stomp off, then. See ya around, Ferret." He made to stand up, bracing his hand against the tree trunk behind him.  
  
_What- oh well, might as well. Aunt Grace would have my head if she knew that I had the chance to talk to him and didn't. Besides, he needs someone to talk to- I DID NOT just think that!!!!_ "Wait, Potter. Sit down and talk. I promise, I won't tell Father about anything you say."  
  
Harry sat back down with a thump. "Actually, I would prefer if you told him. Voldemort too." He fumbled in his pocket. "It's in here somewhere." He pulled out an envelope with the name 'Voldemort' written on the back. "Give this to him, would you? I know you're going to see him at Winter Holidays and all."  
  
Draco took the envelope incredulously. "What the- Why are you sending Voldemort mail????"  
  
"It isn't mail, you dork," Harry slurred slightly, floating about a foot off the ground and turning in circles in midair. "It's a map. I drew it myself," he claimed proudly.  
  
Draco opened it and stared at it. "What's at Number Four, Privet Drive?" he asked curiously. And how are you floating???  
  
"Duh, that's where I live! Tell him he has an invitation to come once school ends. Oh, and before he kills me, I want to watch him torture and kill the assholes I live with. After that, he can kill me all he wants. Just no torture. Probably, by the time he gets there it'll be redundant, anyway."  
  
Draco started laughing, falling over and clutching his sides. "Oh- hahahahaha- shit! That's funny! He'll get a kick out of that. Ok, fine, I'll give him this. For a second you really had me going, I actually believed this was a map to your house! HAHAHAHAHA!"  
  
Harry stared at him, all traces of the smiling, dreamy expression gone. "I'm serious, Malfoy. I want to die, and I want my family," he spat the last word as if it were obscene, "to die as well. There is nothing for me here but pain and I want it to END!" His fists clenched at his sides and a lone tear fell down his face. Taking a shuddering, gasping breath, he managed to compose himself. "So, if you would please give that to him, I would be very grateful." He stood up, dusting himself off. "Well, that ruined my high," he said soberly before walking off.  
  
Draco stood up and ran after him and grabbed his arm, dragging him bodily in the direction of the Forbidden Forest. Once they were about thirty feet into the Forest, he let go of Harry's arm. "Now, you are going to talk and you are going to tell me why you feel like dying is your only option!"  
  
Harry cocked an eyebrow. "Dying isn't my only option, it's the most favorable one," he stated simply.  
  
Draco gaped at him. "Why? You have everything! You have fame and you're one of the best and most powerful people on the planet! You could have anything! Why are you throwing that away?"  
  
"Can you give me my parents?" Harry asked looking him straight in the eye. "Can you give me Sirius back? Can you give me fifteen years where I wasn't beaten or starved or r- or treated like shit by people who were supposed to protect me?" he yelled angrily, tears falling down his face.  
  
Draco just stared at him, his mouth hanging open. "I- I-"  
  
"Don't you DARE tell me I have everything because I have NOTHING! I have no one! All I have are two friends who have lives as fucked up as mine and an entire world that depends on me! E- fucking - nough! I can't do this anymore. So, if you would please see to it that he gets the map, I would appreciate it. Besides, why do you care? You hate me. You want me dead. I'm giving myself to him on a silver platter. I thought you'd be jumping for joy, not questioning my motives."  
  
Draco cocked an eyebrow, trying to regain a sense of decorum. Malfoys never gape, even when told something that completely flies in the face of everything you were taught to believe. _Uncle Sev will be pissed, same as Aunt Grace. Oh, they will be furious to hear this. They thought Dumbledore would take care of his Savior, not abuse him._ "I don't think you understand me, Potter. I may dislike you, but no one deserves to be treated horribly by the people that are supposed to be protecting them. That is awful and unheard of in the Wizarding world. Now, wait a minute- Weasel and Granger have it bad too???"  
  
Harry shrugged. "No one can help me, since Dumbledore has such control over where I go, plus, I just want to end everything. Get them out of their homes, all right? Please? It's bad. Besides, Hermione isn't a Mudblood like everyone thinks. She's actually from a long line of Pureblood Squibs. I think the last time anyone in her family was magic was six or seven generations ago. Wait- she had a Great Grandmother on her Dad's side that was a pretty decent witch. But, yeah, her parents hate her and all. They yell at her and belittle her constantly, telling her they should have aborted her or abandoned her. Why do you think she always does well in school? She just wants them to care. I keep telling her it won't happen but she doesn't believe me. And Ron- well, let's just say the Twins aren't the best siblings to have. They can be really fucked up. I can't say any more on that because I promised never to tell what I saw and he'd just deny it, but I can't help them anymore, so please get them somewhere safe."  
  
Harry stood up and walked off. Draco pulled him back. "What do you want, Malfoy? Why can't you let me go? It's what I want!"  
  
Draco stared at him. "Potter, Why doesn't Dumbledore do anything? You're his Golden Boy!"  
  
Harry snarled at him. "Don't EVER call me that again. I HATE that name. And Dumbledore doesn't do anything because he's behind all this. He could have saved Siri, he could have sent me somewhere else, he could have gotten me out of there. He knows- I sent him letters all summer and he came to my house once. I heard him tell my Aunt she was doing a good job, but not to hurt me too badly. He wanted me submissive when I got back here. I told Ron and Hermione that and they're researching how to get me out of there, but we've had no luck. I doubt you can do better."  
  
Draco snarled, wracking his brain for an answer. _No one deserves this and they will all be furious._ "I can guarantee that Voldemort, once he hears of this, will be furious, and will get you out of there."  
  
"Well, yeah, that's what I'm counting on," Harry responded.  
  
"No, just hang on, all right? He'll get you out of there and keep you safe. I can almost guarantee it."  
  
Harry stared at him incredulously. "What? He hates me and wants me dead! It's either die or completely break."  
  
"If you want to die so badly, just kill yourself then."  
  
"I can't. Dumbledore put this spell on me at the end of fifth year. It lets him know if I have any injuries and if they're self inflicted or not. The last time I tried," he bared his arms and showed Draco the ugly scars running up the insides. "He healed me and told my Uncle I needed to be punished more." He shuddered at the memory.  
  
Draco's face tightened with anger. "I'll see what I can do. Oh, I'll need addresses for Weaseley and Granger."  
  
"They're on the map. I included the addresses on the other side. Why are you helping us, Malfoy?"  
  
Draco shrugged and walked off quietly telling him over his shoulder, "Because no one deserves to be treated this way. It's criminal."  
  
Harry watched him walk off with a renewed hope in his eyes.  
  
** Two days after Winter Holiday ended   
  
** Harry walked glumly down the Hall from his Transfiguration class. It had been horrible. His right hand was still bothering him, as Dudley had crushed it over the summer and it had never set properly. He couldn't hold his wand right, and as a result, had accidentally transfigured his desk into a Hippogriff. That was AFTER Hermione had successfully turned hers into a footstool. He grimaced at the thought of the detention he had to serve that night, cleaning and replacing everything that damn animal had broken.  
  
He absently ran into something and paused, looking up. "Oh, sorry," he muttered, before focusing. "Malfoy?"  
  
Draco stared at him. "Really, Potter, a Hippogriff? What were you trying to pull?"  
  
"Nothing," he muttered, rubbing his aching hand. "I lost my concentration."  
  
Draco stared at his hand and gasped, grabbing his wrist and bringing it closer to his face. "Holy Diana! What the hell happened to your hand?"  
  
"Need you ask?" Harry asked wryly. "Dudley."  
  
"What's a Dudley?" Draco asked, confused.  
  
"My whale bastard of a cousin." At Draco's even more confused look, he sighed. "He stepped on my hand, crushing it. It's fine."  
  
"Merlin, Potter, your whole hand is out of alignment! How are you expected to hold a wand, much less cast spells?" Draco ran a finger over the gnarled and bumpy surface with a fascinated revulsion.  
  
"They hate magic, so that was the point. I can't do spells right any more, the stupid fucks. Dumbledore reamed them for it, saying I need that hand if I'm ever going to defeat Voldemort. They weren't too happy." Harry tugged his hand away, a resigned look on his face. He turned and walked away slowly.  
  
"Wait!" Draco called quietly. "I have this for you." He pulled out an envelope with the name 'Potter' on the back.  
  
Harry absently took it and opened it, scanning the contents. He gave a short bark of humorless laughter. "This is priceless. The Prince of Evil telling me to just hang on and he'll get me out of there?" he looked straight at Draco. "Tell your Master that, while I appreciate the sentiments, I really just want to die. That's all. Ron and Hermione still have each other and a lot to live for. I've had nothing since the day my parents died."  
  
Ron and Hermione walked up the Hall. "HARRY!" they yelled, looking for him. Harry sighed.  
  
"That's my cue," he muttered. Ron ran over, glaring daggers at Draco.  
  
"Hey Harry, why you talking to Ferret Boy over here?" he snapped.  
  
"Don't call him that, Ron," Harry muttered tiredly, restraining Draco from physically attacking the redhead. "He's going to help us, all of us."  
  
Ron gaped at him. "Harry- you - you told????"  
  
"Ron, I can't even hold a fucking wand any more. What am I supposed to do? Dumbledore's gonna get me killed and I can't help you and 'Mione any more. I just can't." He walked off, leaving the three of them staring after him, worried.  
  
"You do realize he sent a letter to the Dark Lord, telling him where his house was, do you?" Draco asked quietly.  
  
Both of them stared at him, shocked. "Why - what- How did you know?" Hermione asked suspiciously.  
  
"He gave it to me, to give to Him, which I did," Draco answered easily.  
  
"What?" Ron snapped. "What is he- suicidal - oh hell, 'Mione, I thought we got him past that." Ron started to walk off, but stopped. "How much has he told you?" he asked, his face turning white.  
  
"Only that both of you have less than ideal home lives and that you need help. He also said he couldn't help you any more because he wants, and plans to die." Draco admired his nails, buffing them on his robes. "I can tell you that I have talked to my parents and my Lord and the same offer given to Harry has been extended to you- protection if you so choose to take us up on it."  
  
Hermione stared at him, troubled. "But- I'm Muggleborn. Why me?"  
  
Draco smirked. "It seems Potter knows more about your heritage than you do. You're from Pureblood Squibs, not Muggles." Hermione stared at him, shocked.  
  
"You can prove this?" she asked doubtfully.  
  
"We did, over Winter Holidays." Draco yawned. "Look, I'm not saying that I like you or want to be friends. What I am saying is that I can - my family can protect you from your families and problems. If Harry takes me up on the offer, he'll never come back here again. Think about it. You could have the same deal." Draco walked off.  
  
Hermione and Ron just watched as he disappeared down the Hall.  
  
"Do you want to, 'Mione?" Ron asked, for the first time, looking hopeful.  
  
Hermione stared at him. "I'll never have to go back again, and neither will you. What do you think? Why would I pass this up?" They walked on to their next class, thinking over the proposition.  
  
** The First week of Summer between Sixth and Seventh Year, 1998, Riddle Manor  
**  
"Yes, My Lord," came the drawling reply. Severus Snape stood before Voldemort proudly, his masked face displaying none of the anxiety he felt.  
  
"My Death Eaters are dismissed, you may all go," came the thundering voice.  
  
Severus nodded and strode from Riddle Mansion, sighing silently. _I will have much to report to Dumbledore. I learned who three more of Voldemort's followers are, as well as the plans for several key attacks over the summer.  
_  
Back inside, masks and hoods were removed with a sigh. Voldemort stood up, looking significantly less skeletal, as well as sporting a full head of ebony shoulder length hair that was attractively streaked with silver at the temples, with a wry grin. "Now that the spy is gone, we can get down to business. Potter has given me a map to his house, as well as the addresses of his two friends. Young Master Malfoy here has informed me that the two of them are waiting for us to make our moves, as they do not trust us at all. Any suggestions?"  
  
A voice spoke up from the corner. "Well, Father, maybe we should just go get them, the sooner the better." Heads turned to see a young woman with fiery red hair cascading to her hips step out of the throng, a younger, much less greasy and unattractive Severus Snape at her side. They cleared a path, allowing Voldemort's only child to walk forth with her husband, unhindered.  
  
She turned her impossibly huge emerald green eyes up at Lord Voldemort. "I want my son back, Father. They took him from me at his birth and I want him back."  
  
"Lily Grace, of course. We will go as soon as they have stopped watching the house."  
  
The strangely attractive Severus spoke up, his voice a velvet purr. "Thank you, my Lord. I also wish that our son would return to us."  
  
Voldemort grinned. "How many times must I ask you to call me Father?" Severus laughed.  
  
"Very well, I'll open the mental link we share. Robes and Masks back on." A flurry of activity began, and within minutes everyone was in place and covered.  
  
** Number Four Privet Drive, same time   
  
** Harry Potter stood in front of the sweltering stovetop, stirring dinner for the Dursleys. _Oh Merlin, I wish I could get out of here. When are they coming for me?_ he thought desperately, stirring the pot of stew as fast as his broken wrist and dislocated shoulder would allow. Already a week into the term and they had laid into him harder than they ever had. He gasped silently as a heavy hand slammed his already injured shoulder, driving him into the side of the cabinets. Dudley grinned at him nastily, and walked back to the table.  
  
"BOY!!! Hurry it up! We're starving over here!" the shrill scream of Petunia echoed throughout the house, causing a window to crack upstairs.  
  
"Coming, Aunt Petunia. It's almost done." At least, Harry prayed it was and wasn't burning. He awkwardly ladled the stew into a large tureen and carried it to the table, setting it in front of Vernon.  
  
Vernon, once the tureen was on the table, backhanded Harry across the face, sending him flying. _Oh Merlin, someone help me, _he thought desperately, drifting in and out of consciousness.  
  
** Riddle Manor   
**  
Voldemort opened the link, feeling for Harry Potter's mind. "Something is wrong," he muttered, only able to feel his consciousness intermittently.  
  
Lily Grace Snape and Severus Lucien Snape gasped. "Father?" she asked, biting her lip with worry.  
  
** Number Four Privet Drive   
**  
Harry crawled across the floor haphazardly. Behind him, he could hear a chair scrape across the floor. "Pet, no offense, but I'm not too hungry just yet," he heard through a fractured mind.  
  
Oh no, someone, anyone, help me please, he thought, crawling faster. _Help me, Voldemort, Merlin, I don't care just help me... don't let him hurt me.... For God's sake don't let him touch me..._ he moaned, only aware that the monster was right behind him and getting closer.  
  
"BOY! Don't you run away from me!" came the bellow behind him, too close, much too close.  
  
** Riddle Manor   
**  
"Help me, Voldemort, Merlin, I don't care just help me... don't let him hurt me.... For God's sake, don't let him touch me..." Voldemort moaned, sliding to the floor in unconsciousness.  
  
Lily gasped. "Oh shit. They're killing my son!" she screamed, snarling. "Death Eaters, MOVE!! GO, GO, GO, GO!!!!!!!" She shrieked. Everyone hastened to obey Voldemort's heir. "We're too late," she moaned, tears streaking down her face. "Please don't let us be too late."  
  
Voldemort staggered upright, his face a terrifying mask of fury. "That BASTARD is TOUCHING my GRANDSON!!!!" he screamed, Apparating. Lily and Severus gaped and followed, seething with fury.  
  
** Number Four Privet Drive   
  
** Harry lay half in the cupboard, Vernon towering over him. "You FREAK!" he snarled.  
  
Harry tried to roll over, scooting himself into the cupboard, trying to escape his Uncle. Vernon grabbed his belt loops, dragging him back out and pulling his pants down to his knees in the process.  
  
"Vernon, I'm putting your plate in the oven. As soon as you are done punishing the freak, come eat," Petunia called from the kitchen. "The Damn Freak forgot to clean up his mess! Vernon, hit him a few times extra for me! I don't want any of his worthless freak blood staining my clothes again!"  
  
Vernon grinned nastily. "Can do, Pet. Where you want the marks?"  
  
"Umm, could you brand him again? Maybe on his face this time?" Petunia asked, staring down at him from over her husband's shoulder. Vernon nodded and she walked away.  
  
"You're gonna get it, Freak. Your Headmaster approved us torturing you. He said nothing was barred, so long as we break you. And I know how to break you, freak. How about an early birthday present?" he asked, ripping Harry's boxers from his emaciated frame. Harry screamed a raw, primal sound and he arched around, clawing at Vernon's eyes.  
  
"NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!" Harry screamed, his eyes going blank and glowing. "YOU CAN'T TOUCH ME!!!!!"  
  
Vernon slammed his head against the wall. "I can do whatever I want, Freak. You don't get it. I have the power, not you." He roughly grabbed Harry by the testicles, dragging the boy up and flinging him, face forward against the wall. Harry flinched and tried to get away, but Dudley walked up to the left of Vernon, blocking his escape.  
  
"Dad, you need any help?" he asked, slamming a meaty fist onto the palm of his other hand.  
  
Vernon grunted and grinned. "Now, Dudley, pay close attention. This is how you break a freak." Dudley grinned.  
  
**Right outside Number Four Privet Drive   
**  
Lily stared at the wards surrounding the house of her adopted sister, concentrating. Suddenly, the entire house glowed briefly, then went out, sending the street into darkness. "Right, MOVE!" she snapped. Voldemort, Severus, and Lucius Malfoy went in first, with enough force that the door exploded, sending shards and splinters of wood everywhere.  
  
Petunia screamed, a long, thin wail, and sprinted upstairs, leaving an equally petrified Vernon and Dudley to fend for themselves. Vernon dropped Harry at Voldemort's feet. "Here! You want him dead, right? Well take him!" he screamed, hysterical.  
  
Voldemort leveled his wand at the Muggle, his eyes glowing scarlet with fury. Vernon backed up, panting. Lily strode around Voldemort, grinning evilly. "Hello, Vernon," she purred.  
  
Vernon stared at her. "No- you you're dead. The freak's Headmaster assured us you were dead!" he whispered, his eyes bulging out of their sockets. "You're dead. You have to be dead. He promised you were dead."  
  
"I am quite alive, and am incredibly pissed off. Did you think you would get away with hurting my son?" she asked in a level tone of voice, squatting down to stroke Harry's bruised and bloody face.  
  
Vernon wheezed and promptly passed out. Lily and Voldemort stared at him with disgust.  
  
"Father, can I bring home a new toy to play with?" Lily asked with an evil giggle.  
  
Voldemort stared at his daughter with pride and a little fear. "Of course, Lily Grace. You may bring home all the toys you like." _You are entirely too sadistic for your own good, you know.  
_  
_ I only learned from the best_."Goody! I want three," she said with a smirk. "All three of them and I want them screaming for a long, long time."  
  
Voldemort nodded and muttered an incantation. Instantly, Vernon was shrunk in size and placed in a small bag. Lily knelt down by Harry's side. "My poor little boy," she murmured, scooping him into her arms. "Let's get you home before Dumblefuck gets here." She walked out the door with her son in her arms. Severus joined them and they Apparated straight back to Riddle Manor.  
  
Voldemort strode through the house. _Find my Grandson's things and do NOT kill the Muggles I repeat, do NOT kill them. Shrink them and bring them to me!_ he ordered telepathically. Two Death Eaters, Lucius Malfoy and another, strode over to him calmly, and handed over the two miniature Muggles. Voldemort nodded and put them in the bag as well.  
  
"My Lord, should we send up the Mark and leave?" Lucius asked quietly.  
  
"Yes. Dumbledore will know we were here anyway and-" several pops could be heard outside. "That's our cue. Let's go. Anyone slacking will be caught. Move, everyone!" Voldemort barked. Lucius sent up the Mark and everyone Apparated instantly.  
  
The windows blew in as dozens of Aurors stormed the property, Albus Dumbledore in the lead. "We just missed them, sir," Kingsley intoned gravely.  
  
Remus Lupin ran up to them, breathless. "Harry's stuff is gone, including his wand, and I can't find Hedwig anywhere. Her cage has been smashed to bits. The Muggle relatives aren't here either."  
  
Dumbledore, for the first time in the recorded history of man, swore vehemently. Remus stared at him, shocked, before Apparating away. He knew exactly where Harry was and only hoped that they hadn't been too late.  
  
** Four days later   
**  
Harry slowly awoke, his head throbbing. "What the- where am I?" he muttered aloud. The last thing he could remember was Vernon trying to r-_ I can't even think it, how pathetic is that?_ hurt him, and then darkness. He slowly opened his eyes millimeter by millimeter, trying to adjust to the light surrounding him. He could hear muted voices moving around him. _Am I in the hospital wing?_ he wondered groggily  
  
"Shh, he's waking up," a pleasant female voice murmured above him.  
  
"Where- where am I?" Harry croaked, opening his eyes no more than a fraction. He could see the vague outline of a lady with long, red hair above him.  
  
"Hush, little one. You are safe and we came for you." He stared, mesmerized by her vivid emerald eyes. _Hey, she has eyes like mine,_ he thought before sleep reclaimed him.  
  
** Two days later   
**  
Harry slowly opened his eyes, expecting to wake up in the cupboard again. He stared around in shock as he took in his new surroundings. He was laying on an enormous bed under a down comforter in shades of green and black. He cautiously lifted his head, wincing at the pain from the movement and slowly, muscles screaming in protest, sat up, gaping. He was in the most lavishly decorated bedroom he had seen in his entire life. On the wall opposite from the bed, a floor to ceiling portrait of Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor whispered back and forth, eyeing him intently.  
  
His gaze whipped to the door as it opened and a blinding pain shot through his head. "Ohhhh..." he whimpered, falling over.  
  
Lord Voldemort swept into the room. "Well, well, I take it you're awake?" he asked wryly, walking over to the bed.  
  
Harry clenched the bed sheets in one hand and his forehead in the other. Blood seeped from between his fingers and trickled down his face. "Lord Voldemort," he acknowledged, gritting his teeth.  
  
Voldemort sat down on the blanket, eying his forehead suspiciously. "What the hell- why are you bleeding??" he snapped.  
  
"It's what happens when I'm around you. Why the hell am I here? And, more importantly, why are you sitting in front of me, and I'm not dead??" Harry snapped in return.  
  
Voldemort raised an arched eyebrow. "And would you prefer to be dead? I can arrange that."  
  
Harry glared at him, only half conscious from the pain. "That's why I sent you the map, damn it. I wanted you to kill everyone, not get me out of there." He lay back on the pillows, slowly adjusting to the agony spiking through his head. "I didn't expect you to rescue me. You've tried to kill me for the last six years. Why didn't you?"  
  
"Why are you asking that? We saved your life! Do you really have a death wish???" Voldemort yelled, standing up and pacing, his eyes flashing.  
  
"YES, YOU ASSHOLE!!!!! I ADMIT IT!!!!! I WANT TO FUCKING DIE SO KILL ME ALREADY AND BE DONE WITH IT!!!!!" Harry screamed at him, tears of frustration and pain welling in his eyes.  
  
Voldemort just stared at him, open mouthed, before finally sputtering, "WHA-WHAT?? Are you INSANE???? Why do you want me to kill you???"  
  
"Why do you THINK???? I lived with that filth since infancy!!! Do you even know- oh wait, that's right. You know all about it. Dumbledore sent you to a Muggle Orphanage. So, would you please just do the honors? I can't!! Dumbledore saw to that."  
  
"What??? After we spent all that energy rescuing your pathetic life? No!"  
  
"KILL ME, DAMN IT!!!"  
  
"NO!!!!!"  
  
"COME ON, KILL ME!!!!"  
  
"HELL NO!!!!"  
  
"JUST KILL ME ALREADY!!!"  
  
"FOR THE LAST TIME- NO!!!"  
  
"WHY THE FUCK NOT?????"  
  
"Because- because you really don't want to die, not after we have found you, finally. Just, I don't know, just go back to sleep." Voldemort looked as if he wanted to say something else, but thought better of it. He turned and walked out, pausing at the door. He turned back around and pointed his wand at Harry. Harry didn't even have time to be scared as he fell into a deep sleep.  
  
** Three days later   
**  
Hermione and Ron sat next to Harry's bed somberly. "I still can't believe we're here and they're his PARENTS, 'Mione! Imagine, The Boy who Lived being Voldemort's Grandson!" Ron exclaimed in a subdued voice.  
  
Hermione brushed a stray lock of hair off of Harry's forehead. "Well, at least they're letting him choose what he wants to be called. That would suck- finding out that the people you have nightmares about dying weren't even your real parents and deserved to die and, on top of that, having to change your name."  
  
Harry stirred under her hand and she stilled. "Harry?" she asked tentatively.  
  
"Hermione? Ron?" Harry asked sleepily, opening his eyes.  
  
"Harry, you're awake! How do you feel?" Hermione asked gently.  
  
Harry blinked. "All right, I guess. Better than I've felt in a long time." He slowly sat up, for the first time in his life completely pain free. "Hermione, Ron," he stared around himself, taking in the unfamiliar surroundings, "where am I? I just had the strangest dream. I dreamt that Voldemort and his Death Eaters saved my life and I wanted him to kill me and we started arguing about whether or not he should. For some reason he didn't want to. Oh shit." he looked around at the lavish bedroom he had woken up in and the enormous king sized bed he was currently laying in. "It wasn't a dream, was it. What the- Where?"  
  
"You're safe," came a strangely familiar voice. Harry looked up to see a woman with extremely long scarlet hair and vivid green eyes just like his walking over to the bed. "How are you, Harry?"  
  
Harry stared at her, his eyes widening as he recognized her from the pictures in the scrapbook. "Mum? But you're- you're dead..." he passed out.  
  
Lily stared at him. "Did that go well?" she asked the two teenagers sitting by her son's bed.  
  
Hermione shook her head ruefully and waved her wand at Harry. "Enervate."  
  
Harry woke up, looking dazed. "Hermione, I had the weirdest dream that my Mum was standing in front of me and told me I was safe..." he looked up, his eyes widening. "Am I still dreaming? Am I dead?"  
  
"No, Harry, you're awake and quite alive. I'm not dead, in fact, I never died in the first place." Lily sat on the edge of his bed and stroked his now healed right hand.  
  
Harry looked down. "Hey- my hand's fixed." He stared at her, tears welling in his eyes. "Didn't you want me?" he asked quietly. "Why did you let me stay there if you were alive?"  
  
"Um, Mrs.-" Lily shook her head. "Umm, Ma'am, why don't you just show Harry what happened, rather than try to explain it?" Hermione interjected.  
  
Harry looked back and forth between his mother and Hermione confusedly. "What? What aren't you telling me?"  
  
Ron looked embarrassed. "Umm, Harry, we don't exactly know how to put this. You see, James Potter, well, he-"  
  
Severus Lucien Snape, the not greasy, fairly attractive version, walked into the room. "Hello, Harry. How are you feeling?"  
  
Harry's jaw dropped. "Pro- Professor! What- Why- How- UGGH!" he exploded, his eyes the size of saucers.  
  
Ron and Hermione snickered. Harry glared at them, and they laughed even harder. "Harry," Hermione began, "that's not our Professor. Look at him. He barely resembles Professor Snape and he's MUCH, much nicer."  
  
"Except where the Dursleys are concerned," Ron added in an undertone, turning green.  
  
Harry stared at them, speechless. "Honestly, the first day I saw him, I asked him if he had undergone plastic surgery for his nose," Hermione added, waving her hands and shrugging. "He just glared at me and asked who the hell I was and why the hell I was so forward. He'd never met us before five days ago."  
  
"You mean there're TWO of them??? BLOODY HELL!" Harry yelled, shaking.  
  
"Watch your mouth, young man!" Severus snapped, his mouth a thin line.  
  
Harry jumped a foot in the air, frantic. "And now he's going all parental on me!!!! What is going on???" he demanded angrily.  
  
Severus stared at Lily. "You haven't told him yet?" he asked sorrowfully.  
  
"He just woke up! We'll give him a heart attack if we dump everything on him all at once," Lily shot back.  
  
"Tell me what? What's going on? Why is Snape being nice to me???" Harry demanded. Severus winced.  
  
"Would you not take that tone of voice with me?" Severus asked quietly.  
  
Harry stared at him incredulously. "Well, I'm not the one who hated me because of a prank played on him twenty five years ago!!!!" he snapped.  
  
"HE ISN'T PROFESSOR SNAPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Hermione yelled at the top of her lungs. "WOULD YOU JUST BLOODY SHUT IT AND LISTEN??????"  
  
Harry glared at her, chest heaving with repressed emotion, but stayed quiet. "Good," Hermione snapped primly. "Now listen to what your mother has to say. And, yes, she is your mother, before you ask another dumb question."  
  
Harry glared defensively and gestured for his mother to talk. Lily took a deep breath. "Harry- you know, that isn't even your real name," she mused. Harry stared at her and raised his eyebrows. "Anyway, the people who you thought were your parents weren't. Lily Potter didn't exist. I never married James Potter, and the people you watched die weren't your real parents."  
  
"Back up," Harry interrupted. "First, what is my real name? Second, who were they? Third-"  
  
Hermione interrupted him. "Just let her tell the story. Mrs. Snape, could you start from your sixth year?"  
  
SNAPE????? Harry thought incredulously. He watched as Lily and Severus smiled at each other fondly before she continued. NO WAY!!!!  
  
Yes way, now LISTEN!!!! snapped Hermione and Ron simultaneously.  
  
"That actually sounds like a good idea, Hermione. All right, in my sixth year, I was in a steady relationship with Severus Snape, your father. At the Winter Holidays, he invited me home with him. At that time, I had no idea that he was involved with Voldemort in any way. Sev, why don't you tell him what was happening at that time?"  
  
Severus grinned. "Sure Lily. Anyway, I had taken the Mark in my fifth year, and spent a lot of time reporting on Dumbledore's movements to My Lord. This was before he died the first time, way before. Anyway, I had seen picture of him and his late wife, Angela Riddle. He had told us how Dumbledore had killed his wife and stolen his child. I saw the pictures and saw your mother, and put two and two together. You get your eyes from your Grandfather, you know. Those vivid eyes are a Slytherin trademark. Besides, Angela had intensely red hair and Lily was a dead ringer for her, down to her nose. I took Lily to meet Voldemort, prefacing the meeting by telling him that I might have found his daughter."  
  
"When Father saw me, he knew," Lily said with a carefree laugh. "We had a connection. All of us in the family, you included, are natural telepaths, and we had a mental bond form instantly. Even so, he had Severus make a paternity potion and prove it. I passed, and took my family's name. Lily Evans ceased to exist, and Lily Riddle took her place, at least, in private. Back at school, which I couldn't leave, I had to remain Lily Evans, Muggleborn."  
  
Harry just stared at her. "So the bond I have with Voldemort is telepathy, not anything to do with this damn scar? And how did Dumbledore- I mean- you were adopted??? They why did he place me with the Dursleys if they aren't blood relations- That blood protection was all a bloody lie, wasn't it?" he asked.  
  
Lily stared at him. "How about I continue the rest of the story before answering questions?"  
  
Harry nodded and she continued. "Well, Seventh year ended and Severus and I got married. James Potter and Dumbledore knew that I was in contact with my father so we went into hiding, fully supporting my father. We went to America and lived there, recruiting more Death Eaters. Two years later, I became pregnant with you. On the night before you were born, all of us, my father and Lucius Malfoy included, were in New York City at St. Agatha's Wizarding Hospital. The next morning, you were born, the second happiest day of my life. I saw you, you were so perfect and tiny," she smiled, wiping away a lone tear that trickled down her cheek. "Eight hours later, a nurse walked into the room, asking for us to let her have you so she could record blood type, take finger and footprints and finish filling out your birth certificate. Five minutes later, another nurse came in, asking the same thing and we knew something was horribly wrong."  
  
"What happened?" Harry asked quietly.  
  
"A woman, who just so happened to look exactly like me, and a man who looked exactly like your father walked out of the hospital with you five minutes after we found out that you were missing. We didn't find you for a year and four months exactly."  
  
"James Potter, and who?" Harry asked, staring at her intently.  
  
"An Auror named Andromeda Tonks, a Metamorphegus." Lily sat down next to Harry and he instinctively burrowed into her side. Lily choked back a fresh wave of tears and continued her voice thick with unexpressed emotion. "We searched high and low for you, following every lead we could find. Severus and I even moved back to England to follow up on a slim lead that Peter Pettigrew had given us. He told us that the Potters, James and his wife, a Lily Evans Potter, were in hiding with their year old son. It was strange, he said, because Lily had never looked pregnant. He didn't know about us, or that I had really married Severus Snape, as he was too close to Potter and his band of friends and wasn't trustworthy."  
  
Severus walked over and sat on the other side of Harry, absently stroking his hair. "Harry, I know this is hard to take in and all, but I promise we'll let you see the memories as soon as you are well enough to get out of bed." Harry nodded, gulping back tears.  
  
"On October 22, 1982, we had physical proof that Harry James Potter was in fact our son, Damien Alexander Snape."  
  
Harry grinned. "You mean that's my real name?" he asked hopefully.  
  
Lily smiled sadly. "You may choose what name you wish to go by, Har-"  
  
"Damien. I hate the name Harry, actually."  
  
Lily and Severus grinned widely. Hermione and Ron smiled as well in relief. "Are you sure, Damien?" Hermione asked gently. Harry nodded, relieved.  
  
"Harry James Potter is a beaten, starved, hurt individual who is hopelessly under the thumb of Dumbledore. I'm Damien Alexander Snape and he can't hurt me ever again. Besides, even if this is some elaborate lie, it's certainly better than the shit I have been living through so why not believe it?" Damien asked wryly.  
  
Lily grinned wryly. "Well, I can assure you that Damien Alexander Snape has a birth certificate," she offered, holding a piece of parchment out to her son. Damien took it gratefully, staring at it.  
  
"I refuse to believe that you are so unintelligent that this has no possibility of being forged. I'll say it again. I'm more than happy to believe this, no questions asked. You are offering freely to give me a family and yet one more reason to abhor the man I already loathe with every fiber of my being. So, Mum, Dad, you don't have to prove anything to me. I'd just like to accept this as truth." Damien hugged Lily and Severus gratefully, resting against the both of them.  
  
Voldemort walked into the room, followed by Draco, Lucius, and Narcissa Malfoy. Damien's head exploded in an agony of intense light and blurred vision. He whimpered, slumping over. "Aw, shit," he dimly heard Hermione say as he fell over, gasping for air. "Not again. That's the third time this has happened and it gets worse each time. Are you sure you don't know what kind of spell was cast on him?"  
  
"We're working on it. Father, if you could step out of the room? I know you want to see him, but you're putting him through hell as it is." Voldemort walked from the room regretfully, and the pain subsided to a dull ache and was finally gone.  
  
"You know, you're putting a damper on the family reunion, Damien." Severus teased, grinning.  
  
Damien thought for a minute. "I don't really look like this, do I? I've always been told that I look like James, so I must be under Glamour of some kind. Do you think it could be removed?"  
  
Hermione looked thunderstruck. "Do you think the reason you can't find the spell is because it's been tied into the Glamour- I need to research this. Where's the Library again?" She ran from the room excitedly. "Sir! Lord Voldemort, Sir, I think I have something!" Damien could hear her - hyper house elf on crack- voice echoing down the hall, Voldemort's usually thundering voice echoing with hers as they discussed the properties of Glamours and whether or not another spell could be piggybacked and hid that efficiently. Damien grinned and shook his head.  
  
Severus stared at him. "Where did you find her?" he asked in amazement. "She is so intelligent and she never shuts up!"  
  
Damien laughed quietly. "And if I had gone into Slytherin like the Hat wanted me to, I never would have become friends with her."  
  
Draco gaped at him, as did Lucius and Narcissa. Ron sighed from next to him. "Yeah, it would have been different if all three of us had gone where we belonged- Slytherin."  
  
"WHAT???" yelled Draco, completely losing his composure. "You - ALL of you???? In SLYTHERIN????? You're all bloody fucking NUTS!!!!"  
  
"Draco! Language! And, close your mouth," Lily chided him. "So, my son, why did you choose otherwise?"  
  
"Well, I had been told that Slytherin was where Dark Wizards came from, Draco had just insulted the only friends I had ever made, and I didn't want to be an evil bastard. Now, I kind of like the idea," Damien sighed.  
  
Draco smirked. "Yes, I can see it now 'Dumblefuck's Downfall- the Boy Who Bloody Wouldn't Die Makes Him Choke on His Lemon Drops After Renouncing Side of Light'. We could have a parade and everything," he trailed off, evilly plotting.  
  
Damien laughed, a carefree sound that had Lily and Severus smiling in relief. _I didn't know he'd take this so well, Love. It's wonderful_.  
  
Damien stared up at them. _Hey! I can hear you and it doesn't hurt!_ He grinned broadly, and the three of them hugged each other tightly.  
  
"Um, what's going on?" Ron asked, staring at them with concern.  
  
"Damien is a telepath!" Lily squealed, kissing the top of her son's head.  
  
"Well, duh, we knew that. We've been talking back and forth since first year. It's bloody useful during tests and all." Ron shrugged, missing Draco's incredulous looks.  
  
_ Hey, I could hear them too, _Draco thought incredulously. Ron and Damien whipped around and stared at him as he sat there, lost in thought.  
  
Hermione came skidding in, her eyes dancing with mirth. "Ok, Damien, hold still. I think we got it." Everyone stared at her as she brandished her wand. With as much fanfare as possible, she announced, "Finite Incantium."  
  
Where Damien had sat, a tall muscular youth sat in his place. His face eerily looked like a mixture of Lily and Severus, and the only thing unchanged was his scar. Even his eyes had changed; they were darker and almond shaped. He stared back at them with his emerald green eyes expectantly. "Well, did it work??" he asked impatiently, removing his glasses.  
  
Hermione hastily conjured a mirror and Damien inspected himself anxiously. "Hey, I look good!" he exclaimed happily.  
  
_ Damn straight,_ Hermione and Draco thought at the same time. Damien eyed them both suspiciously. _Oops,_ they thought simultaneously, both turning a dusky pink.  
  
"So, explain!" Lily said impatiently, gesturing wildly. Hermione sighed.  
  
"Well, I thought that first Voldemort wouldn't be able to undo the spell, because the ward was against him. Second, anyone of Harry- I mean Damien's blood- you and Severus Snape- the real one, would also be unable to end the spell because Dumbledore wanted Damien kept away from you. Third, anyone with The Dark Mark wouldn't be able to do it because their magic is tied in with Voldemort's. That left me or Ron, and no offense, Ron, I'm a little more powerful than you, and Dumbledore is really, really strong."  
  
Ron huffed angrily, insulted. Damien grinned. "Damn, 'Mione, you really did it."  
  
"Indeed she did," Voldemort's voice could be heard from the doorway. Damien looked up and smiled.  
  
He gasped in surprise. "Hey! It doesn't hurt any more!"  
  
Voldemort grinned and walked over. "Hello, Damien Alexander Snape. I don't think we've been properly introduced. I am Thomas Marvolo Riddle, also known as Lord Voldemort and your Grandfather." He extended his hand.  
  
Damien grinned and shook his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Grandfather. Sorry about the other day." they laughed quietly at the sight- the former Harry Potter and Gryffindor's Golden boy shaking hands with Voldemort, resident Dark Lord- and his Grandfather.  
  
"I told you that you really didn't want to die, young man."  
  
"So, not to burst your bubble or anything, but how long are Weaseley and Granger going to be here?" Draco drawled, gaining everyone's attention.  
  
"As long as they want, Draco," Lily answered, frowning.  
  
Draco sighed before walking out the door. _Damn it, I have to put up with the Gryffindorks all frigging summer before Father makes me go back to dumpy old Hogwarts. Don't I get any rest from their stupidity?_ he thought angrily.  
  
Before anyone could say anything, Damien, Ron and Hermione ran out the door after the unsuspecting Slytherin. "Damien!" Lily yelled angrily, "get your ass back into bed!"  
  
Damien caught Draco's robes and swung him around, knocking him into the wall. Draco's eyes bugged out as he stared at the extremely scantily clad, angry guy in front of him. "Oof," wheezed Draco as he hit his head against the stone wall.  
  
"Now- Hey! I'm taller than you!" Damien exclaimed, grinning evilly. "Now, you little dipshit, what did you just say about my friends???"  
  
"I didn't say anything!!!!" Draco exclaimed angrily, pushing Damien away from him. _Damn he's got nice abs, and pecs and damn!  
_  
Damien glared at him and removed the offending hands. "First you call us Gryffindorks and stupid, and now you think I have a nice body. Make up your bloody mind already," he ground out, turning three shades of red.  
  
Draco's jaw dropped. "What the hell- Pott- Snape- whoever you are, get out of my head!"  
  
"We ALL heard you, dumbass," Ron snapped, crowding Draco back against the wall. Hermione stood on Damien's other side, effectively blocking his escape.  
  
"No, I'm serious, Scarhead! I wasn't THINKING that, not saying it! Get the bloody hell out of my head!" Draco protested, well aware that he was about to get his face pounded. Damien drew his hand back, looking murderous.  
  
Lucius stood up quickly, not wanting his son to get jumped by three angry Gryffindors, but Voldemort shot him a look and walked out first, intent on restraining his Grandson.  
  
"Severus, would you help him restrain your son?" Lucius drawled, trying to put on a brave front. "Why are they going to hurt him for thinking?"  
  
"Because he's never done it before?" Lily asked, sotto voce. Narcissa glared at her before giggling.  
  
"I think Our Lord has a handle on the situation. Besides, from what I understand, this had been in the making for a long time. From the horror stories Hermione and Ron have told me, your son is a stuck up, arrogant prick at school and deserves this," Severus drawled, smirking. "And, now he's been caught without his brainless bodyguards."  
  
Lucius snarled at him, drawing his wand. A hand on his arm restrained him. He looked into the eyes of his wife. "Luc, leave it. I admit freely that our son is an arrogant ass, just like his father. It's Malfoy tradition."  
  
Lucius took his hand off his wand and grinned in defeat. "That he is, isn't he Cissa. However, three against one is hardly fair." He stood up and walked out into the hallway after Voldemort.  
  
Draco stared wide eyed at the hand Damien had raised. "Oh really, Pothead, what do you think you can do with that- OOF" Damien slammed him across the face, leaving an angry red mark. "That's going to bruise, you bastard!" Draco snapped, never knowing when to quit.  
  
Damien growled and raised his fist but a hand on his shoulder restrained him. He turned and stared into the scarlet eyes of his grandfather. "Could you please move your hand so I can decorate the walls?" he asked in an even tone.  
  
Voldemort shook his head. "Would you save your anger for someone who is worth the trouble? Besides, magic is so much more inventive than the Muggle alternative of a physical confrontation."  
  
Damien cocked his head. "True." Suddenly, Draco found himself hanging almost four feet off the ground, plastered against the wall. For some reason, Damien was in midair as well, along with Ron and Hermione.  
  
"HELP!!!!!!" Draco howled, his Malfoy decorum going straight out the window. Narcissa shot out of her seat, Lily, and Severus right behind him.  
  
"Drop him NOW!!!!" Lucius roared from his vantage point, whipping out his wand. Damien just looked down at him and the elder Malfoy paled and backed off. Damien's eyes glowed a solid viridian and his fingers glowed the same color. His hair whipped around his face and he radiated a seething anger. Hermione's eyes, on the other side of Damien, glowed a solid cobalt blue, and her clothes whipped around her lithe body. Ron's eyes glowed scarlet, and his entire body had a faint glow around it as well.  
  
Voldemort stared up at them, flabbergasted. "Well, who'd have thought that the Golden Trio would have so much power?" he mused aloud.  
  
Draco stared down at him, wide eyed. "While you are all enjoying the power display would someone GET ME DOWN????????" he shrieked. 


	2. The Lesser of Two Evils Continued

Severus and Lily walked over to their son and stood eye level with his knees. "Damien, while I know Draco has been an ass, killing him will only create more problems. Where did you learn how to use Wandless magic?"  
  
"What else do you think we did at Hogwarts during Winter Hols? Played Quidditch, chess, and Exploding Snap?" Hermione asked, smirking. She put a hand on Damien's arm. "Come on, Damien. Your Grandfather's right. Draco's not worth killing. Besides, the entire female and some of the male population at school will kill you for depriving them of their sexiest student. He's isn't called the Slytherin Sex God for nothing, you know."  
  
Draco stared at her in a mixture of revulsion and gratefulness as Damien slowly lowered him to the ground, Hermione and Ron following almost immediately. "Thank you, Granger, and I will pretend I didn't hear you call me attractive."  
  
Hermione smirked evilly. "I said you looked good. I never said I found you attractive. You'll find that, while it's unanimous that people think you're physically appealing, no one even remotely intelligent would have a relationship with you."  
  
"Why the hell not???" Draco snapped, scowling.  
  
"First, because Pansy said, and I quote, 'that you absolutely suck in bed', end quote. Second, because you're an asshole. Third-"  
  
"Enough!" Draco spat. "I'll have you know that I've NEVER slept with Pansy!!! I HATE that bitch!!!!!"  
  
"Enough! Separate yourselves now!!!" Voldemort bellowed, furious. Lucius grabbed Draco, pulling him far away from the three Gryffindors. Voldemort followed, intent on finding a way for his Grandson and the son of one of his most loyal followers to call a truce. Severus and Lily led the three of them down the hall, back into Damien's room. Once they were separated, Lily and Severus started laughing hysterically.  
  
"Umm, Mum, Dad, what- why are you laughing?" Damien asked, confused. He looked to his friends but they just shrugged, confused as well. They made themselves comfortable on the bed and simply waited for the two adults to calm down enough to speak.  
  
After several minutes and they still hadn't stopped their laughter, Damien and Hermione shrugged, grabbed Ron, and walked out of the room. On the way to the library, Damien rubbed his arms at the slight chill in the air and realized that he wasn't wearing a shirt. Looking down, he realized that- _HOLY SHIT!!!! Why didn't you TELL me I was only in my underwear????_ he snapped mentally, running back to his room.  
  
Ron and Hermione started laughing insanely, collapsing in the hall_. Because it was funny- and very attractive- to see you running around without a stitch of decent clothing??? Besides, you look GOOD in only black boxers!_ Hermione gasped mid giggle.  
  
Ron made a disgusted face. _EWWWW! 'Mione, you may think he's cute but he's my BROTHER!!!!  
_  
Damien rolled his eyes and ripped open the closet, searching for clothing. Not finding any, he turned to his parents. "I suppose you think this is as humorous as my friends do?" he asked wryly.  
  
Lily nodded, still giggling. Severus smirked. "Do you wish to borrow some clothing?"  
  
"If it wouldn't be too much trouble. I'm kind of cold." _And overexposed._ Severus walked out.  
  
Hermione called from the library, _But you have to admit that the true you is incredibly hot.  
  
_ Harry laughed, sitting back down on the bed. _Too true. I give the Malfoy prat a run for his money.  
  
Dearest best friend, I'd take you over that prat any day. You not only are extremely hot, but you're incredibly intelligent as well. He just has the looks with no brains.  
  
Thanks, 'Mione. I am interested, but...  
  
Completely understood and you father has done a number on the Muggles. Speaking of which, you want in on torturing them as soon as you find some clothing to hide that wonderful six pack?  
_  
_ 'Mione, you're making me blush. Please, please quit it with the praise. It is making me uncomfortable.  
  
You're telling us, Har- I mean Damien. You don't see her drooling over your body! I have to stand next to her! Damn it, you two are my brother and sister. Do you HAVE to be attracted to each other????  
  
Thanks, Ron. I really appreciated that visualization of myself. You can be a bastard sometimes, you know that? _Hermione huffed.  
  
_Would you two stop fighting already and just relax?_ Damien asked in exasperation. Severus walked back into the room, robes, a pair of pants, and a shirt in hand. _Hang on, my Dad's here with clothes. I'll join you two in a minute._ Damien gratefully grabbed the button down black silk shirt and the black leather pants, throwing the black silk robe on over it casually. He slid into the black boots with a grin.  
  
"Don't tell me you're going out like that? All black? You look like someone died," Lily asked doubtfully.  
  
"It's better than just underwear," Damien said with a grin, conjuring a mirror Wandlessly and studying his reflection. "Besides, I think I look good," Damien said with admiration.  
  
Severus rolled his eyes. "Great, he's as conceited as Draconis Malfoy."  
  
Damien pouted. "I am not. It's the first time in my life that I've liked the way I looked. Can't I appreciate that I have really good genetics? Anyway, Ron and Hermione are in the Library, so can we head that way?"  
  
Lily and Severus led him to the Library down the Hall. Damien followed silently, taking in the sight of the stone hallway and floor, the expensive paintings and the Slytherin crests all over the walls. "I take it we are in Riddle Mansion?" Damien asked quietly, staring at a particularly detailed painting on Salazar Slytherin and a coiled Basilisk at his side.  
  
"Of course not, Damien. We're in Slytherin Manor, which everyone thinks no longer exists." Lily turned and looked at Damien expectantly.  
  
"What? Slytherin Manor is pretty cool," he said absently, still memorizing the corridor.  
  
"No blowing up? No insults? Damn, you must still be in shock. Are you sure you're ready to be up and walking around?" Lily asked, concerned.  
  
"Nope, and yes, I'm fine. It's just that, with all the insane things that have happened within the last two hours, the existence of Slytherin Manor isn't that big of a surprise. To be honest, I'm just going along with everything right now. Oh, and Hermione said something about Vernon, Petunia and Dudley being here and being given a bit of justice. Do you think I could see some of that?"  
  
Lily and Severus grinned nastily. "Of course, Damien. We'll do that after we are done in the Library. Oh, and you three will explain how you learned Wandless magic, and why your friends are as proficient in telepathy as you are."  
  
"Yes, Mother," he simpered, earning a laugh from his Dad and a cuff on the back of his head from his Mum. They strode into the room at the end of the Hall and Damien stopped, shocked. He was surrounded by books, in a room ten times the size of Hogwart's library. He slowly read the titles of the books on the closest shelf, marveling at the subjects. Dark curses, more dark curses, Animagi transformations, Potions, Transfigurations, even more dark curses, you name it, it's all here.  
  
"Dear, do you want us to continue the story of what really happened or do you want to tell us first?" Lily asked, breaking him from his astonishment.  
  
"Damien!" Hermione yelled, running over and almost knocking him over with the force of her hug. Ron followed at a much slower pace, grinning lopsidedly. _Hermione, you almost flattened him. I told you, ease off the chocolate!  
_  
_ But they have such good chocolate and such incredible books and it's all so wonderful! Being an evil bitch has its perks!  
  
_ Damien choked and started laughing. _'Mione, what would we do without you?_ he asked, hugging her.  
  
_ Do your own homework for a change?_ she shot back, grinning.  
  
Ron grabbed his chest and pretended to die, falling onto the floor. _Ohh, you got us, right where it hurts.  
_  
Severus and Lily could only watch, amused, as Damien knelt down next to Ron, 'dying' as well. They both lay on the floor, holding their breath and waiting. Hermione stood over them, glaring. "You're not going to make me sing it, are you?" she begged, her cheeks turning bright red. They didn't respond, which, for her, was all the answer she needed. She stood there for almost a minute, shaking her head.  
  
Finally, Hermione gave in. "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts, didle dee dee dee dee, there they are, a standing in a row, boom boom boom, big ones, small ones, some as big as your head...," she sang in a pleasant contralto. She kicked Damien in the thigh. "ALL RIGHT, GET UP!!!!!"  
  
Damien rolled to his feet gracefully and, turning, pulled Ron to his feet as well. "Thanks, 'Mione love, you sing beautifully."  
  
Lily grinned. "Monty Python?? When did you watch that?"  
  
"I stole Dudley's DVD set the week after he got it. It didn't matter- he wasn't smart enough to get the jokes and thought it was stupid. I brought them to school and we watched them on 'Mione's computer."  
  
"What's a DVD?" Voldemort asked, the Malfoys in tow behind him. Damien noted, with satisfaction, that Draco's otherwise perfect face had a reddish purple handprint across one cheek.  
  
_ Serves the arrogant prick right,_ Damien thought gleefully_, even if he is hot._ Hermione nodded, Ron looked ill, and Draco stared at the three of them as if they were insane.  
  
_ Did I hear you correctly, Pott- Snape? You think I'm hot????_ Draco snapped.  
  
_ Oh SHIT!!!!_ Damien, Hermione, and Ron moaned in unison._ He can HEAR us!!!!  
_  
Lily, Severus and Voldemort stared at the four of them, shocked. _Draco?_ Lily asked cautiously.  
  
_Yes, Aunt Grace?_ Draco asked in return.  
  
_How long have you been able to hear them?  
  
Since Har- Damien woke up two hours ago. It feels weird._ Draco rubbed his temples wearily. _And it gives me a headache.  
  
Oh, yeah, that's right. Remember how you two had headaches for a month first year?_ Harry asked, his arms around Hermione and Ron's shoulders.  
  
_ Yeah, it was awful. But, we got used to it after that._ Hermione rested her head against Harry's shoulder happily.  
  
Draco grimaced. "You mean I have to put up with hearing you in my head and it's gonna hurt??? I never agreed to this!"  
  
Voldemort and Lily laughed. "Well, only the mates of a person from Slytherin's bloodline can hear telepathic thoughts. It's always been like that. So, somehow, Draco will be bound to Harry or-"  
  
"Father, we haven't told him yet," Lily warned.  
  
Draco gaped. "I'm not bound to Potter!!!!!"  
  
Voldemort closed his mouth with a snap._ Sorry, Lily Grace.  
_  
"It's all right, Father. We probably should continue with the story." Severus ushered them further into the Library where there were several couches and comfortable looking chairs situated around a stone hearth. Everyone sat down, Damien surrounded by his parents and friends.  
  
"So, Damien, explain to us how you learned Wandless magic like that," Severus calmly demanded with a sparkle in his eyes.  
  
"Well, Dad," Damien began, grinning. "Second year, with the whole Chamber incident," Voldemort grinned, slightly blushing. "You know, Grandfather, killing students is a bad idea," Damien said abruptly, staring at him.  
  
"Why?" Voldemort asked, taken aback.  
  
"Well, most Muggleborn people have at least one or two witches and wizards in their bloodline. Magic just doesn't appear out of nowhere. So, as there is no such thing as true Muggleborn, you're killing potential recruits."  
  
"The term Muggleborn refers to their parents, not relatives."  
  
"But, still. Why kill those that would keep the Wizarding world from succumbing to the problems of incest? We need all the fresh blood we can get."  
  
"We'll deal with that problem the way we always have- with magic." Voldemort stood up and stretched slightly. "Why did you bring this up? Do you really like Muggleborns?"  
  
"Sir, by your definition, I'm Muggleborn," Hermione said thoughtfully. "Most Muggleborns I know are quite strong. Yes, we have trouble adjusting at first, but, after several years, we usually don't have a problem and live easily in the Wizarding World, with some Muggle appliances and necessities like computers that have been converted to use and benefit magic. I think we would be beneficial to the Wizarding World, not a detriment."  
  
Voldemort and Lucius frowned. "You do realize you're asking us to rethink ideas almost a thousand years old," the Dark Lord pondered.  
  
"Think of it this way- magic had to come from somewhere, right? Muggles thousands of years ago gave birth to the first witches and wizards. That's what Shamans and Tribal priests and priestesses were. They were the first of us. They started out Muggleborn, the same as I am. I just think of myself as starting a new bloodline."  
  
"Why are we talking about this?" Voldemort asked again, scratching his head.  
  
"My potential bondsmate is Muggleborn, which is why I brought it up. She was one of the people petrified during the last attack in our second year. It was because we didn't know whether or not I was Slytherin's Heir that we started studying Wandless, Elemental, and other forms of Arcane Magic, as a means of protecting ourselves, and because classes were ridiculously easy and boring. It was a plus that all three of us mastered Wandless magic by fourth year, when we found out that you and I have brother wands. The point is that she's more powerful than most purebloods I know. Speaking of wands, where's my wand, trunk, and other stuff?"  
  
"It's safe. Here's your wand," Voldemort said casually, handing over the cherished wand. "I did some tests on it. Dumbledore didn't do anything to it, which is surprising, other than a tracking charm."  
  
Damien took it, caressing the wood. Draco and Hermione, almost involuntarily, watched his fingers, shivering. Lily watched them, silently sniggering. _Well, well, well. That was interesting,_ she thought extremely privately to her soul mate.  
  
Severus stared at the three of them. _Indeed. Why did he get two soul mates? It isn't fair!  
_  
Damien was blissfully unaware that he was being talked about and ogled as he sat there, holding his precious wand. Finally, Ron broke the silence. "Eh, mate, are you all right? You're doing some pretty suggestive things with that wand, you know."  
  
"And how many are drooling?" Damien asked, causing Hermione and Draco to choke, Lily and Severus to chuckle, and the Malfoys to stare at their son with extreme confusion. Voldemort was the only one to remain impassive, as he had figured out what his grandson was doing, almost as soon as he had started.  
  
_ You should have been a Slytherin, he thought wryly._ Damien just laughed and nodded, Hermione, Ron and, surprisingly, Draco as well, albeit reluctantly.  
  
"Two- Malfoy Jr. and Hermione," Ron finally answered.  
  
Draco seethed. "I was not drooling!" he spat defensively.  
  
"It's not that difficult to understand, Malfoy. He is pretty hot," Hermione said with a smirk. "Even straight guys will find it 'hard' to not stare," she explained, with a slightly suggestive smirk. Draco's cheeks turned a faint rose color and he stood up, muttering about finding a book.  
  
Damien watched him leave with a smirk that faded to a slightly pensive, foreboding look. He chewed his lip worriedly, his mind a whirl and a thousand miles away. Lily tried to read him, but Hermione stopped her with a look. "Don't," she said, chewing her lip as well.  
  
"Why not?" Lily, surprised, asked.  
  
"When he's like that, we call it the spin cycle. His mind is moving a thousand times a minute and anyone else, if they get sucked in, will wind up incredibly nauseous."  
  
Lily grimaced. "I'll keep that in mind."  
  
"Besides," Hermione continued. "You don't want to see those thoughts. They're of Vernon, Petunia, Dudley and probably Malfoy and Voldemort and Dumbledore. The only thing to do is wait till he comes out of it and then deal with the damage."  
  
Draco walked back with an enormous tome on various medieval torture methods and their modern counterparts and curled up in one of the overstuffed chairs, apparently engrossed. Hermione, not to be outdone, quickly found a book on the theory behind the Unforgivables and their variations and sat across from him, also apparently engrossed. Ron, completely bored, found a book by the title of "One Thousand and One Ways to Cheat at Quidditch (And Not get Caught!)" and sat down next to Hermione, occasionally chuckling to himself at the variety of scenarios and how to make the most of them.  
  
Hermione looked up and, seeing what Ron was reading, huffed. "For someone who should have been in Slytherin, Ronald, you pick the stupidest topics in which to become engrossed."  
  
"Oh, 'Mione, lay off, will you? You hound us during school to read, and now that I'm reading, you nitpick the topic. Will you ever quit? Besides, I've found several that the Slyths used against us... not that it did them any good. With Damien as our Seeker, we took the House Cup every year."  
  
Draco glared at him from over the top of his book and stuck up his middle finger at the redhead.  
  
Ron laughed. "I don't think you want ME doing that to you, Malfoy. 'cough cough Damien cough cough'."  
  
Draco's scowl deepened, and they could all hear "mother fucking bitch" come out of his mouth.  
  
"We don't want to hear about your sex life, Malfoy," Hermione said absently, turning a page.  
  
Lily and Narcissa stared at each other before dissolving into unladylike giggles. Malfoy Senior and Severus stared at the three arguing incredulously. Voldemort absently tallied another point to the Golden Trio on a piece of parchment. So far: The Trio five, Malfoy Junior zero.  
  
Draco scowled, furious. "You're just jealous, Mudblood. You couldn't get laid if your life depended on it!"  
  
Damien came out of his trance and turned to stare Draco straight in the eye. "Go ahead, Ferret. Keep talking. We love it when you have to eat your words."  
  
Ron let out a squeal of shock, the same time that Hermione's jaw dropped and Damien started hitting his head against the table.  
  
"You two did- WHAT????? WHY?????" Ron yelled at the top of his lungs. Damien paused briefly in the slamming of his head against the table to look at Hermione ruefully.  
  
"Whoops. Sorry, 'Mione," Damien muttered, ready to resume slamming his head against the aforementioned table.  
  
"Damn straight, you're sorry. Not like that'll do any good, you bastard," Hermione grumped.  
  
"Bitch," Damien muttered, his forehead against the table.  
  
"I told you not to call me that!" Hermione yelled at him angrily. Draco's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline and Ron fell over in shock.  
  
"At least not in public," Damien snidely shot back, then clamped a hand over his mouth, a 'just shoot me now' expression on his face.  
  
Hermione tackled him, hitting him repeatedly. Ron just covered his eyes, muttering about foreplay.  
  
"Ow! Ow! Ow! 'Mione stop! Ow! Ow!" Damien yelped, trying to shield himself from the blows. Draco watched avidly as Slytherin's Heir was almost bludgeoned to unconsciousness by his girlfriend.  
  
"You two... damn that's kinky. I didn't know Gryffindor's Golden Boy- whoops, guess you aren't that anymore. Anyway, Snape, I didn't know you had it in you." Draco buffed his nails against his robes. It's strangely enough a turn on. He didn't even bother hiding that last statement.  
  
The two of them stared at him with calculating gleams in their eyes. _You know, Draco,_ Hermione began suggestively, her eyes bright. _You could watch... more.  
_  
_ Maybe, if you like what you see, you could join,_ Damien suggested with a smirk.  
  
Draco stared at them, his mouth suddenly dry.  
  
Damien smirked and started laughing. _Did you actually think we were serious? Damn, Malfoy, that is pathetic.  
_  
Ron stared back and forth._ Ummm, this is none of my business, but that was MEAN. Now I've gotten that from my system, you ONE UPPED MALFOY!!!!! Cool!  
_  
Draco turned around, for some reason, incredibly hurt. He quickly schooled his features into disdain and arrogance to mask his true feelings. From across the room, Voldemort watched with a calculating eye. _Hmmm. Young Malfoy does care, oddly enough. He cares a great deal. That could be used in the future.  
  
_ "Um, Damien, Hermione, how long have you two been shagging?" Ron asked, still unable to process what his best friends were doing.  
  
"FYI, Ron, since Siri died, well, since the start of sixth year, so a little under a year," Hermione huffed angrily. Damien pouted and held out his arms. She sighed wearily. "Well, since they all already know and I don't hear any complaints, why not?" she jumped onto his lap lightly, snuggling into his arms with a smile on her face. Draco wished momentarily that he could be over there, with the Gryffindor half on his lap- Wait, since when do I want to snuggle with the Mudblood????  
  
Hermione and Damien smirked. _Maybe because you finally realize that she's absolutely perfect and too good for you?_ Damien remarked snidely.  
  
_ Then how the hell did she wind up with you??? _Draco countered nastily, for some reason not bothering to deny the remark.  
  
Hermione hissed at him, in her anger turning into a beautiful tawny mountain lion with golden eyes. Draco jumped back in surprise and fear. Damien sighed and scratched Hermione behind the ears affectionately. "Love, you need to move. Your claws are digging somewhere that's really painful." Hermione blinked and settled across his lap, her claws safely clear of hurting anything important. Damien let out a breath in relief and stretched.  
  
"Yes, we are all illegal Animagi. We learned how to transform in out fourth year. What of it?" Ron asked Draco with a sneer.  
  
Draco blinked and transformed himself; a beautiful albino panther with pale blue eyes taking his place. Damien sighed, Hermione moved from his lap, and he transformed as well into an ebony jaguar with emerald eyes. The three enormous cats stared at each other, Hermione affectionately rubbing her head under Damien's chin.  
  
Ron, not to be outdone, transformed into an enormous reddish brown wolf. He prowled over to Damien and they playfully wrestled and chased each other around the Library and down the hall. Hermione followed, chasing after the two boys. Lucius, Severus and the still feline Draco followed sedately at his father's side. They rounded the corner to find all three of them in human form, unconscious in the middle of the Hallway. Draco transformed back into his human self.  
  
"Oh great. The Golden Trio has Narcolepsy. That'll be fun to hold over their heads-" Draco was abruptly cut off by an enormous black dog bowling him over. "DAMNIT!!!!" The dog immediately transformed back into the person's normal human state.  
  
"I'm sorry, they saw me and they passed out and is that my GODSON???" Sirius Black yelled, staring at Damien. "Holy SHIT!!! Is that Har- Damien???"  
  
Lily walked over to Sirius and smacked him across the back of the head. "You dolt. You're supposed to be dead- at least, everyone else thinks you're dead. You can't just go traipsing around the castle like you own the place!"  
  
"I'm really sorry, Lily. I couldn't help it. I heard that they were here and I just had to see them again. You know that Damien is my Godson. I promised I would be there for him, and I can't do that if I'm thought of as dead, now can I?" Sirius tenderly picked up the still unconscious Damien from the floor and carried him back into the library, leaving Lucius and Severus to deal with the other two.  
  
They lay the three of them down on the couches and cast enervate. Damien, Ron and Hermione opened their eyes, blinking the world back into focus. "Umm, could someone get me a Muggle psychiatrist? I'm having delusions," Damien asked quietly, staring at Sirius Black strangely.  
  
Hermione and Ron whimpered slightly, their eye wide. "Sirius? Is that really you?" Hermione asked.  
  
Damien stared at them worriedly. "All right, how many people can see him?"  
  
Draco sighed, exasperated. "We all can, Snape. Therefore, it isn't a delusion."  
  
Hermione stared at Draco thoughtfully. "Not necessarily. It could be a mass delusion triggered by one individual. Since we are all telepaths, the likelihood of this being simply the product of one person's psychosis has increased exponentially."  
  
Everyone except for Draco and Damien stared at her, confused. "Um, 'Mione, in English, please," Ron whined.  
  
"She means that because we are telepaths, it is likely that only one of us is crazy-" Damien began.  
  
"And sharing the delusion with everyone else. However, that is improbable because my parents are not, to the best of my knowledge, telepaths as well and they can see Sirius Black," Draco finished smugly.  
  
Damien turned to stare at him thoughtfully. "Yes, but how well can a telepath influence the thoughts of a nontelepath?"  
  
Hermione grinned, astonished. "Hey! There are some brain cells in there after all!" she exclaimed, staring at Draco with amazement.  
  
Draco smirked. "Yes, rather astonishing, isn't it. Beauty and brains, what a combination. Really, Granger. You only manage to beat my grades by half a percentage at best, with Po- sorry, Snape, only a point behind me."  
  
"We always thought you must be at the least paying off the teachers," Ron commented off handedly.  
  
Draco stiffened, highly insulted. "I'll have you know, Weasel, that I've earned every grade I've received."  
  
"Yes," asked Damien before he could stop himself. "But how have you earned them?" Hermione slapped him across the arm, scowling.  
  
If looks could kill, the scorching glare Draco leveled at Damien would have made him spontaneously combust. "The same way you have, Snape."  
  
"Oh, so you save the school as well every year?" Damien asked snidely. Draco blinked. "Oh, come off it, Malfoy. Do you actually think I TRY in classes? Why bother? The grades, except for Potions, are just going to be handed to me along with House Points for incredibly stupid acts of bravery. What's the frigging point to actually doing work? I bet I got perfect OWLs, even after falling asleep in one, having a vision in another and blowing up a cauldron in a third."  
  
Lily and Severus blinked. Sirius, sitting in a large chair across from his Godson, started shaking with laughter. Voldemort stood up and walked off, shaking his head, furious. Lord and Lady Malfoy looked at each other and walked off as well.  
  
"Sirius, presuming that that is really you and not just a delusion I seem to be having-" Damien was cut off by a familiar voice.  
  
"Oh, no, Snuffles is most definitely alive," Remus announced with a grin, plopping down next to Damien. "You are Damien Alexander Snape, I presume?"  
  
"Professor Lupin!" Damien, Hermione and Ron exclaimed happily.  
  
"Yes, I'm in on this, too. So, Padfoot, have you explained how you are still here to them or have you neglected that part of the tale?" Remus asked with a wry grin.  
  
"Considering that they just woke up after passing out from shock- all three of them-, no, he hasn't told his part of the tale yet," Voldemort smirked, sitting back down. "Oh, and Damien, I'm going to kill Dumbledore."  
  
"I know," Damien replied, surprised. "What else did he do to bring that on, Grandfather?"  
  
"Well, not only has he made your life a living hell, but he gave you grades!!!!" Voldemort barked, affronted. "No Grandson of mine is to skate through school, no matter HOW many times he keeps the establishment from blowing up!"  
  
Draco snickered, unable to help himself. Damien glared at him. "I'd like to see YOU master Wandless magic, you prick!" he snapped.  
  
Voldemort smirked. "Indeed, Damien. And YOU and Hermione and Ron will be the ones to teach him, as well as your parents, Draco's parents, Sirius, myself, and Remus." Damien, Ron, Hermione, and Draco gaped at him.  
  
"But- but- but-" Damien protested, finally finding his voice.  
  
"No buts. You've mastered something that hasn't been done in over five hundred years, since the Founders of Hogwarts. You sill teach us how and you will start lessons tomorrow. Do I make myself clear? Oh, and Damien, I will be assessing where you three are in your schoolwork and will be attending to your lessons personally, along with Severus, Lily and Lucius, understood?"  
  
"Yes, sir," Damien muttered, sulking. Hermione and Ron still stared at the adults, their mouths hanging open.  
  
"So, Sirius, how did you pull this one off?" Damien asked, shifting his attention to his Godfather.  
  
"It's simple, really. The Veil doesn't really do anything to anyone. Voldemort knew this because Grindenwauld developed it and never got the blasted thing to work right. I basically went through it and sat on the other side for six hours, waited for the entire clamor outside to die down and then Apparated here. I've been here ever since." Damien's eyes hardened and Hermione got up to sit on his lap.  
  
"Damien, you have to calm down," Hermione rationalized, and then smacked herself in the forehead. "What the hell am I saying???? Scream at the asshole! He put us all though the worst hell imaginable!!! You tried to kill yourself twelve times because of his stupidity!!!" Hermione slid off of his lap and stalked over to Sirius. "You BASTARD!!!!!" she yelled, her face contorted. "Do you have ANY idea what he's been through?? What we've ALL been through???"  
  
Sirius stared at her, shocked. "I- I'm sorry. I didn't think he'd take it like that."  
  
"You KNEW how the Dursleys were treating him. YOU had to know! He depended on you taking him from them and fighting for custody!" Hermione turned to glare at everyone, furious. Even Voldemort wilted under her lethal gaze.  
  
"I- I -I-" they stammered incoherently.  
  
"But no! All of you let him down! We've been trying to keep him sane and alive and no one has helped us! We've done everything on our own and now, after he's been put through inconceivable hell, does anyone do ANYTHING to help! You're his family!! Where were you????"  
  
Damien curled into a ball, hugging his knees to his chest. He stared at Hermione's back with a sinking, sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. _They weren't there because they don't want me, _a nagging voice jeered in the back of his head. _Stop it!_ he protested, trying to block out the nagging little voice. It refused to quiet, and only grew louder. _They don't want me, they never wanted me. That's why they didn't come for me at the Dursleys. They hate me.  
_  
Hermione turned back around and wrapped her arms around him, kissing the top of his head._ Love, that's not true. It's not true. They do want you and they want you to be happy. Come on, look at me.  
  
_ Damien raised dull emerald eyes and met honey brown eyes. _How do you know that, 'Mione? How do you know?  
_  
_ Because I do and you have to just trust me. You are wanted and loved.  
_  
Harry sighed and transformed, Hermione following suit. They curled up on the rug in front of the fire, accidentally disturbing a slumbering Nagini, who hissed at them. Damien playfully grabbed the snake across the middle, curling up next to and around the suspicious reptile. After a few reassuring hisses from Voldemort, the enormous snake fell back asleep, basking in the warmth of the two enormous cats. Ron curled up in between and motioned for Severus and Lily to do the same. They playfully cuddled next to the jaguar and mountain lion, scratching behind their ears. Damien and Hermione started purring, a deep rumbling sound that filled the air.  
  
Voldemort stared at the cats with a sad smile. "Damien, I am truly sorry for what it's worth. We left you there for two reasons, the first being solved by Miss Granger's Finite Incantium. The second is that we thought that Dumbledore would have treated his weapon well. We never dreamed that the man would have you harmed. Your survival and flourishing would make more sense to ensure loyalty. We thought you were safe and happy."  
  
Damien transformed back, curling up in between his parents. "You thought wrong. They've treated me horribly for as long as I can remember."  
  
Hermione transformed as well. "I think, since we're all here, could Damien hear what really happened that night?"  
  
"First I want you to call a truce with Draco." Damien was about to protest, but Voldemort held up a hand. "No, hear me out. You are on the same side and have common goals. You will have to work together in the future and will have to trust each other, possibly with each others' lives. You need to draw a truce, if we ever will have a chance in hell of succeeding."  
  
Draco and Damien nodded reluctantly and stared at each other, unreadable expressions on their faces. Finally, after several long minutes of uncomfortable silence, they stood and took each others hands. "Truce?" Damien ventured insecurely.  
  
Draco nodded minutely. "Truce."  
  
Voldemort nodded. "Very well, where did we let off?"  
  
"With discovering who had Damien and where he was hidden," Hermione inserted with a small smile, sitting once again on Damien's lap. She leaned back against his chest and he started playing with her hair.  
  
"Let's see, October 31, 1982," Voldemort began. "We had planned to attack that night, hoping that James and the false Lily would be at a party and only a babysitter were at Godric's Hollow. No such luck. We stormed the house, eighteen Death Eaters and myself, to find Lily, James and Dumbledore in waiting. Dumbledore took off to get Aurors and Order members, and James tossed you to the Auror, Andromeda Tonks, who was posing as Lily, and told her to get out of there. I hit him with the Avada Kedavra and he fell, what I thought to be dead, and I concentrated on the imposter. She had you, a wand pointed to your tiny body. I told her to give you to me and she refused. Lucius stunned her, knocking you to the floor and I killed her.  
  
"I was about to pick you up when James stood up and pointed his wand straight at you, shouting Avada Kedavra. I dove into the blast, trying to protect you and forgot to cast a shielding charm. So, my spirit was ripped from my body and it was only through force of will alone that I didn't completely die. I watched, helpless, as he leveled his wand at you again, screaming Avada Kedavra. The curse sped towards you and, instead of it killing you, a golden glow surrounded your body, absorbing the blast. You turned impossibly huge eyes up at your 'father' and you sneered, the glow expanding rapidly. James had such a comical expression of terror on his face as he Apparated away from that house. It was hilarious. But, seconds after he left, you blew up the house. My Death Eaters were forced to evacuate, certain you had died in the blast. I alone knew you were still alive, but I couldn't tell anyone. I watched as Dumbledore handed you to Hagrid, telling him to take you to the Dursleys. With that, I left, heading for Slytherin Manor. I had to find a body to possess so I could get word to Lily and Severus that you were still alive and were at the Dursleys."  
  
"So the voices I hear whenever Dementors get too close are of James Potter and Andromeda Tonks?" Damien asked.  
  
"What voices?" Lily asked worriedly.  
  
"I hear them die whenever Dementors are near me," Damien explained in a whisper. Lily's eyes filled with tears. "I hear James screaming for Lily to take the baby and run, and then Voldemort demanding she hand me over, and her refusing. Then, I hear someone yell Avada Kedavra and see a green light. Then, I hear it being screamed again and something hits me and I pass out." He buried his face into Hermione's hair, feeling like he was going to cry. When he finally raised his head and looked around the room, everyone else looked as if they were fighting back tears as well, even the three Malfoys. Draco in particular looked incredibly guilty.  
  
"For what it's worth," Draco offered quietly, "I'm sorry we dressed up as Dementors and tried to scare you from your broom in third year."  
  
Ron rolled his eyes, wondering what would happen if he turned Malfoy Junior's hair rainbow colored. He smirked to himself and, seconds later, Draco unknowingly sported multicolored locks.  
  
Damien looked up again and his eyes widened. "Um, Malfoy, what have you done with your hair???" he asked, choking back a laugh.  
  
Hermione started giggling as Draco ran a hand through his hair. "What? Snape, I swear, you're mental!"  
  
"No, really! What did you do to your hair??" Ron asked, choking back a laugh.  
  
Muttering curses about idiotic Gryffindors, Draco conjured a mirror. "See, not- WHAT THE HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" he screamed, his face twisted in open mouthed horror. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME???????" he shrieked. "CHANGE IT BACK!!! SNAPE YOU BASTARD, CHANGE IT BACK!!!! THIS ISN'T FUNNY!!!!!!" He shot to his feet and grabbed Damien by the robes, shaking him.  
  
"I didn't do it!" Damien protested, breaking Draco's grip easily and shoving him away. Kinda cute with the clown hair, he mused. Makes him look human instead of the Ice Prince.  
  
Draco snorted. "Whatever, Snape. Just change back my hair! I look bloody ridiculous!"  
  
"I didn't do it, I swear!"  
  
"Bullshit! Change me back!"  
  
"I can't! I don't know what spell was used!"  
  
"Bullshit! You cast it!"  
  
"No I didn't!" Why are you blaming me???" Draco found himself floating in midair and struggled to get his feet back on the ground.  
  
"Damien Snape, put me down!!!!" he howled, swimming through midair frantically.  
  
"I'm not doing this!!!" Damien yelled, finally getting angry. "Stop blaming me and fix it yourself!"  
  
Ron snickered, turning as red as his hair. Draco stared at him, his face turning equally red. "It was you, wasn't it???" he accused. "You did this to me!!!"  
  
Ron nodded, laughing helplessly. Damien glared at Ron. "It's all your fault, Ron." Ron nodded vigorously, laughing harder. "You turned his hair multicolored and now he's floating!" Ron started howling with laughter, falling off his chair and floating himself. He waved his hand and Draco's hair, in addition to being multicolored, was now frizzy curly and stuck out in every direction.  
  
Lucius glared at the almost hysterical Weaseley. "We can send you home, you know," he threatened.  
  
Ron stopped laughing immediately and waved his hand. Draco's hair returned to normal and he stopped floating. "Please, sir, don't send me back," Ron begged. "I won't do it again."  
  
Severus remained impassive, his face going blank, while Lucius and Voldemort looked at each other with identical raised eyebrows. An unspoken agreement was made between the two to find out exactly what had happened to Ron to make him fear returning home to the point of promising to stop teasing Draco.  
  
"All right, you four," Lily said, exasperated. "Go outside or something. Lessons will begin tomorrow, so enjoy your last day of freedom."  
  
Instantly, the four of them scattered, taking off for parts unknown.  
  
"Well, that was easy," Lily remarked aloud. "You'd have thought that I told them it was their last day living or something. Now, on to business."  
  
Voldemort steepled his fingers. "The toys are still alive in the dungeon and, sadly, will need more treatment before they realize the errors of their ways. They still blame Damien rather than their own stupidity and horrifying actions."  
  
Lily steepled her fingers as well. "Father, have they said what they did to my son?" she asked soberly.  
  
Severus laced his fingers behind his head. "I managed to get Dudley to admit to something called gang banging. I have to look up what that means, as it is most probably a Muggle slang expression."  
  
Sirius blanched. "I, um, know what that means," he muttered. "I'm not sure you want to know, though."  
  
"Tell me!" Lily snapped, glaring at him.  
  
"Lily, if they truly said that then they deserve to be castrated and hung up by the bloody stumps."  
  
"TELL ME!!!" she howled.  
  
Sirius sighed, his cobalt eyes flashing like sapphires. "It means that a group of people find one person and every member of the group takes a turn abusing the person sexually, including, but not limited to rape. Usually, in the worst case scenarios, the person is treated that way, captive, for years."  
  
Lily, Severus, Lucius Voldemort and Narcissa paled. Remus whimpered, closing his eyes.  
  
"I see," she said faintly. Abruptly, she stood and walked out, Severus at her side. Everyone else just looked at each other and shuddered. They dispersed, unwilling to talk about anything further.  
  
**The Next Afternoon, Slytherin Manor   
**  
After lessons, which included how to brew one of the most toxic poisons known to man, Damien approached his mother. "Mum, could I visit the Dursleys?" he asked politely, his hands behind his back.  
  
Lily looked up from the tome she was reading. "Of course. Now?" she asked, putting the book down and getting up.  
  
Hermione and Ron accompanied him to the dungeons, Draco tailing behind them. The lone Slytherin watched as the Golden Trio laughed and joked and had an excellent time and, for not the first time or event he hundredth time, he wished fervently that he could have been included in their happiness. Especially now that Hermione has grown up and become incredibly beautiful and Damien is one of the hottest guys I've seen..._ STOP thinking, BRAIN!_ he snapped, ready to pound his head against the nearest wall.  
  
Damien and Hermione stared at him, shaking their heads. _Wouldn't you have to START thinking in order to stop?_ Ron asked curiously. Hermione and Damien started to quietly laugh, causing Draco to turn beet red.  
  
Lily glared at Ron before rolling her eyes. "You are SUPPOSED to be on the same side," she said pointedly. "Apologize."  
  
"I'm sorry," Ron said easily, not meaning a word. Draco just sneered. They rounded the last corner and stopped, a heavy oak door in front of them. Lily waved a hand idly, having taken to Wandless magic instantly, and the door burst open. Damien, intrigued and excited, walked into the room immediately, Hermione and Ron trailing behind him. The room was about twenty feet by forty and had rows of manacles on the walls. In the center of the back wall, Vernon hung by his wrists, both shoulders dislocated, his eyes bloodshot and filled with agony. Petunia hung next to him, her face also filled with indescribable pain. Dudley had been too heavy for the manacles to hold, Damien could see. There were gaping holes in the wall where the manacles had been. Instead, Dudley was chained on the far wall; spread eagled to prevent him from pulling free. All of them looked as if they were in agony. Vernon's unseeing stare finally centered on Damien and he sneered.  
  
"Come to poke fun at us?" he hissed, his beady eyes slanted and angry.  
  
Damien grinned and transformed back into Harry Potter. "No, just come to see that you've been punished properly for what you've done to me."  
  
Vernon's eyes widened. Petunia looked up, hate blasting from every pore. "You FREAK!" she screamed. "It's all your fault! Why wouldn't you just die like you were supposed to???"  
  
Damien strode forward and backhanded her across the face. "You bitch," he hissed half in Parseltongue. Hermione and Draco shivered involuntarily. "You worthless excuse for a person. How dare you call me a freak when you participated in the breaking and abuse of a helpless child!!" He turned back, transforming again. He walked over to his mother, burying his face in her shoulder and she wrapped her arms around him.  
  
"She lies, baby," she said softly, stroking his hair. "She lies because she hates what she doesn't know and is jealous because we are powerful and she is not. That's why we fight and why we have to hurt them. Because they hate us for being powerful."  
  
"I don't want to see any more," Damien said dully. Lily led them out of the Dungeons, still holding her son close.  
  
**Three Days Later, the gardens of Slytherin Manor   
**  
Damien, Ron and Hermione lay on the grass idly, watching the clouds roll by. Draco sat a few feet away, working on his Wandless magic. "Mione, Ron, I never got the chance to ask. How long have you been here and what happened when the Death Eaters picked you up?" he asked suddenly, rolling onto his stomach.  
  
"My parents weren't home like always, and your mom walked in on my favorite pastime," Hermione said sarcastically.  
  
Damien grabbed her arm and pulled up sleeve of the black long sleeved shirt she was wearing. Sure enough, there were new pink lines on her wrists and forearms, intermingling with hundreds of older, white lines. Draco stopped what he was doing and stared, shocked. "Mione, you promised."  
  
"It got so hard, Damien," Hermione whispered, a lone tear trickling down her cheek. Damien gently brushed it away, kissing her softly. "They were so horrid and I couldn't take it any more. I had to stop the pain and that's the only way I know how."  
  
"Tell me," Damien ordered, settling her on his lap, Ron next to them and playing with her hair comfortingly.  
  
"Mum told Dad she wasn't coming back, that she was leaving the trash in her life behind. Then she told me that if I wanted to come with her, I had to hand over the trust fund- you know, the one set up by my Great Grandmother."  
  
"The last witch in your line," Ron said knowingly.  
  
"The one that pays for Hogwarts and my books. She said there was plenty in there still, and if I wanted to go too I had to give up the abomination," Hermione spat. "She was leaving with Steve, and he doesn't know that I'm a freak and she didn't want to lose him like she did Greg."  
  
"Was Greg the one who-" Ron stopped talking abruptly, his eyes shining with pain.  
  
"You can say it, Ron. It doesn't hurt any more. Yes, he was the pedophile, the one who liked little girls. Thank God he never touched me like that, though he did try." Hermione ran her fingers through her hair distractedly.  
  
"You sent him through a wall, right?" Damien asked. Draco's jaw was almost brushing the ground, unnoticed by the trio.  
  
"It was a concrete wall three feet thick, and I was glowing, too. He ran away and never came back. Last I heard he was in prison for kidnapping, raping, and killing a little girl."  
  
"So they got you without a problem then?" Damien asked quietly.  
  
"Yes. I just grabbed my trunk and left with them. Your mum is nice."  
  
"He knows," Ron whispered suddenly, his eyes filled with tears. "Your dad knows, although I don't think he told anyone. He knows about Fred and George and what they've done."  
  
"Oh Ron," Damien murmured, hugging the distraught boy close. "Did he say anything?"  
  
Hermione drew her knees up to her chin. From almost twenty feet away, Draco watched them from the corner of his eye, more than slightly worried. What did they do to him? he wondered silently, shielding his thoughts impeccably. It sounds worse that what Hermione just admitted to going through.  
  
"He didn't say a word when he saw them tou- tou- hurt me like that. It's pathetic- I can't even say it. He threw them through the kitchen wall and grabbed me, taking me out of there. They didn't even grab my wand. Professor Lupin took me to Diagon Alley to get another one, my true wand. My parents still don't know what the twins have done, and they were the only ones in the house with me when the Death Eaters came. Mum and Dad must be so worried. We sent them an owl, you know, telling them that we're safe."  
  
"I can't say it either, Ron," Damien admitted. "I can't even say the word. Even thinking it almost sends me into hysterics." Hermione hugged them both, and they lay their heads in her lap.  
  
"My boys, my brother and my soul mate. We are going to get them back for what they've done, you know," she promised, her light tone belied by the steel underneath.  
  
Draco shuddered at the sweet malice in her voice. "Wow," he softly breathed. "I pity them." Hermione shot a look at Draco and he stared back._ I promise, Hermione,_ he thought directly to her. _I won't say a word to anyone about this.  
_  
That's not the problem, Draco. The problem is that you now understand. You know. No one besides the three of us has ever known, understood and done anything about it. You've done all three for us, and for that we thank you. You didn't have to rescue us but you did.  
  
Draco blushed faintly. _You're welcome, but I don't know what else I would have done.  
_  
Hermione smiled, hugging Ron and Damien.  
  
** Two Days Later, Hogwarts   
**  
Remus stood in front of the gargoyle, wracking his brain for the password. _Not that I actually want to talk to the asshole. But, I have to keep up appearances. I hope Voldemort discovers a way for me to effectively 'die' so I can disappear like Paddy without any question._ he suddenly stiffened, his hypersensitive hearing and nose picking up on a person, _The false Snape, the one, who, suspiciously, smells like someone I used to know. If only I could place the smell,_ walked up the corridor behind him.  
  
"Lupin," he sneered. "Come to report on a possible lead on the Potter brat and his friends? Or did you simply miss the Headmaster and come to take up more of his busy schedule?"  
  
Remus scowled. "Just open the damn door already, would you? I can't remember the password!"  
  
"Blood pops." The gargoyle swung around and Remus walked quickly into the Headmaster's office. "Yes, Albus?" he asked once he was inside.  
  
"Ah, Remus. I was wondering. Do you have any leads on the whereabouts of our students?" Albus gestured for the werewolf to sit down. "Would you like some tea?"  
  
Remus sat down cautiously, accepting a cup. Hmmm, what did he dose in it this time?" Thankfully, the Headmaster didn't know that his lycanthrope condition protected him form most toxins and potions, including the calming draughts, Veritaserum, draught of the living death, as well as a few others. He cautiously took a sip of the burning liquid. Ah, Veritaserum. I knew it.  
  
"So, Remus, is there anything I should know about the whereabouts of the Golden Trio?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes twinkling madly.  
  
"Voldemort most definitely has them, sir," Remus intoned, faking the effects. "That much I am certain. Where he is keeping them and his intentions I have not been able to ascertain. However, they are still alive."  
  
"Very good, Remus. I need you to find out more for me, as well as make a portkey to the Great Hall. Give the portkey to Harry as soon as you can get in contact with him."  
  
"Of course, Albus," Remus intoned, allowing some enthusiasm, all faked, of course, to creep into his voice.  
  
"Good, get on it!" Albus shooed the werewolf out the door and Severus walked in past him.  
  
Remus stalked out of Hogwarts with a barely contained growl. _Trust that meddling, manipulating, evil bastard to try and take away the only happiness my pack has known. He let my pack get hurt and I'll kill him for that._ He reached the edge of the Antiapparation Wards and quickly Apparated back to Slytherin Manor.  
  
** Slytherin Manor, twenty minutes later   
  
** "What did the bastard want now?" Lucius asked, sitting comfortably on a stone bench as Remus stumbled into the gardens.  
  
"The asshole wants me to make a portkey to the Great Hall and give it to Damien- excuse me, Harry Potter- when I see him." Remus grimaced and sat next to him. "I'll never get used to the taste of Veritaserum," he groaned.  
  
"Doesn't he know that you're immune to it?" Lucius wondered, confused.  
  
"No, and don't you DARE let it slip. He'll kill me," Remus groaned, resting his head in his hands.  
  
"Not if we kill you first," Voldemort said comfortingly, walking up the path.  
  
"You mean it?" Remus raised his head hopefully.  
  
"Lily Grace, Severus, Damien, Hermione, Draco, and Ron came up with a plan, and, I think your portkey will come in nicely, but much later on. Damien wants to go back to Hogwarts, if only for a minute or two, just to give the old man what's due to him."  
  
"Well?" Remus asked. "Explain it, please!"  
  
"How about we go inside and let the genius masterminds explain. They do a much better job than I do."  
  
With that, the three of them walked back inside Slytherin Manor and found everyone else inside the Library, finishing up the last of the plan. The sat down and listened in.  
  
"I still say we don't need to kill him, per say!" Draco snapped, banging his fist on the table.  
  
"But how else can we get him without Dumbledore being suspicious???" Lily yelled, exasperated. Severus hugged her and she melted into his touch, resting her head on his shoulder. 


	3. The Lesser of Two Evils Continued

"Calm down, Lily. We'll work this out." Severus rubbed her shoulders comfortingly. "First we have to get the rest of our family together, and them we'll worry about the details."  
  
"Umm, excuse me?" Damien asked, confused. "What do you mean- the rest of the family, Dad?"  
  
"Oh shit!!!" Lily swore. "Don't tell me we forgot-"  
  
"Whoops." Severus sat Damien down. "Son, you have a sister."  
  
"What???" Damien, Ron, Draco and Hermione yelled in unison.  
  
The three Gryffindors stared at Draco, who shrugged. "It's news to me, as well."  
  
"We found out we were pregnant again about six months before October 31, 1982," Severus began. "Lily gave birth again in the United States, this time in California's leading Magical hospital. The nurse told us that the baby had been stillborn, but when we demanded to see the body, she didn't produce one. So, yet another child of ours had been abducted by Dumbledore. However, this time, he sent our daughter to a convent-"  
  
"The same one he sent me to," came a musical, feminine voice from the doorway. They turned and stared as a middle aged nun in full habit walked into the room.  
  
Voldemort stood up and hugged the newcomer enthusiastically. "Ceilia!!!" he yelled.  
  
"Hello, Tom. It's been a while. How's my favorite twin?" He gestured for her to sit.  
  
Draco, Ron, Harry and Hermione gaped at each other, mouthing the word 'twin' disbelievingly.  
  
"Ceilia, meet your grandnephew, Damien," Voldemort said with pride, "and his friends, Ron, Hermione, and Lucius's son, Draco."  
  
"Hello, everyone," Ceilia said with a smile. "Call me Aunt Ceilia," she said, seeing their hesitation.  
  
"I came to tell you that Angela is doing well and wants to come home," she said to Voldemort, getting to the business at hand. "I think it's calmed down enough that we can risk it."  
  
"Come home also, Ceilia. You don't belong there, you know that," Voldemort persuaded sadly.  
  
"Tom, I have been there my entire life. It is all that I know. Besides, we magical nuns run New Orleans's finest magical academy. What would happen to my students?" she argued.  
  
"But there were three more attacks on your school in the last month. Muggles hate Wizards, you live it first hand. American law treats you like second class citizens at best. You live in fear of your lives. Come home where it's safe. Bring everyone. You can set up school here."  
  
"Well, that's a new argument," Aunt Ceilia said thoughtfully. "It would be safer for my students, and Angela wouldn't have to leave all her friends. But I thought that you didn't want anyone to know where Slytherin Manor was."  
  
"Considering that Dumbledore's only hope to save the Wizarding world from Voldemort just joined his side," Damien said wryly, "I don't think it'll be a problem."  
  
"Is that old fart still causing trouble?" Ceilia asked, wrinkling her nose. "Wait a minute! I thought Harry Potter was Dumbledore's weapon! He's a Death Eater now?"  
  
Damien sighed and, remembering what the Glamour looked like, transformed. Aunt Ceilia let out a startled gasp.  
  
"Damien! You're Harry Potter? But- How?" she asked, staring at him suspiciously.  
  
"I was taken from my parents, Lily and Severus as a newborn, and raised by James Potter and a Metamorphegus Auror, Andromeda Tonks. They found me and tried to take me back, resulting in Grandfather dying the first time around. Dumbledore put me with the Dursleys, Mum's adoptive family, and the rest is history," Damien transformed back, shuddering slightly.  
  
Hermione and Ron hugged him and Draco patted him of the back. "It's ok, Damien," they soothed. "You don't EVER have to go back to being Harry Potter again."  
  
Aunt Ceilia rounded on Voldemort accusingly. "How come you never told me???" she snapped, hurt.  
  
"My dearest twin, if you were ever captured by Dumbledore and forced to tell what you knew, it would have been disastrous."  
  
"But still! Dumbledore hasn't been back since he left me there seventy one years ago! It's unlikely that he would come any time soon. He thinks I know NOTHING of the magical world. Being the Mother Superior of the Dominican Order of Nuns for our convent gives me a lot of leeway."  
  
"So Angela is coming home?" Lily asked, a huge smile on her face. "Our family is coming together again, Sev," she murmured, burying her face into his shoulder.  
  
Voldemort's lip twitched. "So, when can we come get her?" he asked.  
  
"I'd give it a few days, a week at the most, just so I can inform my students' parents about the change in school address, as well as make portkeys so they can reach the new school. Oh, and I have to move several other students here as well, including our transfer student from Hogwarts, and..." Ceilia walked back to the fireplace, tossed in a handful of Floo Powder, yelling, "Saint Christina's!" She turned to Voldemort and hugged him. "I'll be back in several days, brother. Take care."  
  
Voldemort hugged her back. "Bye Ceilia. And, bring as many as you have to. I'm not losing a single Witch or Wizard to that Muggle trash you call neighbors."  
  
She walked into the Floo without a backwards glance.  
  
Damien, Ron and Hermione scratched their heads. "Um, Grandfather, not to sound stupid or anything, but why does Aunt Ceilia live near Muggles? Is she in a Muggle convent or what?" Damien asked curiously.  
  
"Her order is composed completely of magical nuns, but, in America, there are no magical communities. They have to live and work among Muggles and are treated abysmally. Witches and Wizards aren't protected by the government, either. They're treated like second class citizens at best. At worst, it's the Salem Witch Trials all over again, this time with modern weapons and methods of torture. It's not unusual for a discovered witch or wizard to be beaten by her or his neighbors, forced to move, ostracized, or even killed. It's horrifying." Voldemort wearily massaged the bridge of his nose, sighing.  
  
Draco looked thunderstruck. "Then why did you send the Zambinis to recruit in America??? She's like a sister to me!! She could be killed!!!"  
  
"Our people need help, Draco," Lucius chided him gently. "Besides, who better than Johann to gain support for our cause? He already has contacts in America, and his cousin lives in New Orleans already." Lucius stared at the fireplace thoughtfully. "Also, I heard Ceilia say that she had a Hogwarts Transfer student attending her school. Blaise will be here in a week, along with her soon to be classmates."  
  
_And maybe Blaise will finally be able to act on that unrequited crush she's had on Weaseley for the last three years,_ Draco thought wryly.  
  
Ron choked. "Excuse me?" he sputtered, Damien pounding his back.  
  
Draco scowled, kicking himself mentally. "If you do ANYTHING to hurt her, Weaseley," he warned angrily, "I'll kill you myself!"  
  
Ron held up his hand. "Easy, Malfoy. I won't hurt her. In fact, I've had the same, umm, problem myself," he admitted sheepishly, his ears turning bright red.  
  
Draco stared at him. Damien nodded his head vigorously. "He talks about that cute Slytherin all the time, but he's never had the balls to do anything about it," he offered brightly.  
  
Ron scowled and tackled Damien, slugging him in the chest. "You shit! why- how- What in bloody hell do you think you're doing?" he yelled angrily.  
  
Draco pulled Ron off of Damien, and held him back by the collar of his robes. "Easy, Weaseley. I can hook you up with her, you know." Ron immediately stopped struggling and stared at the Slytherin suspiciously.  
  
"Why would you do that?" he asked, his eyes narrowing.  
  
"Because it'll make my sister happy," he answered simply.  
  
Ron smiled. "You really are okay, Malfoy," he said with wonder, holding out his hand. They shook hands briefly, Draco wearing a lopsided grin.  
  
"It took you this long to figure that out?" Draco asked, pouting playfully.  
  
Damien raised his eyebrows, he and Hermione watching the interaction. _Love, I think we have to apologize for our words last week, as well as eat them,_ Hermione told her boyfriend ruefully.  
  
Damien nodded thoughtfully, his eyes narrowed. They had caught Draco covertly checking out the both of them over the last week, a slightly wistful expression on his face. _I think Mum and Dad were right about us having another soul mate. He certainly acts like he wants to join us, and we both think he's damn hot. Plus, he's been almost pleasant to be around. I think he really wants to make amends.  
  
Hmmm,_ Hermione thought. _Let's go. We need to talk. Some things happened a few days ago that you need to be made aware of._ She dragged Damien from the room, neither of them missing the longing look that flashed across Draco's face before his icy mask returned.  
  
** Two Hours Later  
**  
Damien and Hermione sat under a tree on the edge of Voldemort's private lake, talking quietly. Draco walked up behind them, lost in thought. Hearing voices, he stopped, listening.  
  
"Damien, I'm serious. He was nice and I think Draco is all right! I don't know if he changed or was always all right, but he's different to us," Hermione said, wrapping her arms around his neck.  
  
"One word, 'Mione. Mudblood. Technically, you are Muggle born. How is he going to treat you and how are his parents going to react? He's going against the pureblood ideals he was raised with." Damien sighed, resting his head on his girlfriend's hair. "It's too bad, because I'm just as attracted to him as you are."  
  
"What are we going to do?" Hermione asked softly, burying her face into Damien's chest.  
  
Draco decided to make his presence known. "Hey, could I sit down?" he asked quietly.  
  
Damien patted the grass next to him and Draco gratefully sat, his back to the ancient tree. "I knew you'd find your way out here," Damien muttered quietly, his tone neutral.  
  
"Is that a problem?" Draco asked, hiding his slight hurt behind an icy veneer.  
  
Hermione shrugged. "We wouldn't have invited you to sit down if it was."  
  
"You know, we really don't stick to the whole pureblood issue all the time," Draco said with a slightly abashed look. "And my parents think very highly of you, Hermione. They wouldn't have a problem with this."  
  
"To bloody hell with your parents, Draco!" Damien snapped. "What do you think about all this??"  
  
"I think that I spent the entire time hurting you two because I couldn't understand why I wanted to be around you all the time, even though I was supposed to stay as far away from you three as possible once Damien, as Harry, seemed to be under Dumbledore's thumb. I couldn't even talk to you because you could tell Dumbledore what I said and then my family would be locked away in Azkaban. What about you, and don't give me any of that Gryffindor versus Slytherin crap. I know where the both of you belong."  
  
Damien glanced at him from the corner of his eye, mulling something over. He and Hermione looked at each other. "Well, what do you want out of this?" Hermione asked quietly. "We know what we want; now the question is what does this mean to you?"  
  
_ I want whatever you're willing to give me,_ Draco thought desperately before he could stop himself. "Umm, I- that is-" Damien leaned over and kissed him softly on the lips, eliciting a startled gasp from the blond. Hermione snuggled into the blond as well, trailing kisses down his jaw, before switching with Damien. They broke apart, breathing heavily.  
  
"Something like that?" Hermione asked softly, still sitting halfway on both of their laps.  
  
"Are you fucking with me?" Draco asked, unable to process that the two hottest people he knew and the people he fantasized about daily were actually kissing him. "Is this all a joke?"  
  
Hermione and Damien grinned, their fingers reaching for Draco's temples. As soon as their fingers made contact, a flood of warmth, security and certainty rushed through him. _We aren't messing around, Draco. We're sorry for all the shit we pulled, horribly sorry. We're sorry that we let other people's prejudices influence our own judgment. We know that we were wrong and we want this, not only to make it up to you, but because we belong together, with you. The question is, do you want this as much as we do?  
_  
_ HELL yes,_ he thought.  
  
"Good," Damien growled as Hermione expertly kissed Draco again. _We should move this elsewhere,_ he thought with amusement.  
  
_I'm comfy here,_ Hermione pouted, gently nibbling up and down Draco's neck. Damien captured Draco's lips with his own, his hand sliding under Hermione's shirt to fondle the clasp of her bra. _Oh. Yes, let's move, shall we?_ she asked, grinning.  
  
They stood up and raced into the Manor and to Damien's room, locking the door behind them.  
  
** Three Days Later   
**  
Damien, Lily, Severus and Voldemort stood in front of the Floo, ready to go to collect Angela and help Celia move the school to Slytherin Manor. "St. Christina's!" Voldemort yelled, throwing the Floo powder in. He quickly disappeared, everyone else following suit.  
  
Damien stepped out into the foyer of church and stopped, amazed. _Oh, wow. Hermione would love it here, with all the beautiful Gothic architecture!_ He looked down the hall and gaped. A teenage girl with vibrant crimson, curly hair sat on a bench about fifty feet away, writing in a notebook. "Mum, she's here!" he whispered excitedly.  
  
Lily and Severus turned. "Angela," Lily called gently. The girl looked up and smiled, closing the book and standing up. She ran over and threw herself at Severus. "DADDY!" she yelled in a thick Creole accent. Severus swung her around, laughing.  
  
"How ya doing, Baby?" he asked fondly, ruffling her hair.  
  
"I'm doing fine. Aunt Ceilia says we're all going home and my classmates are coming too!"  
  
Lily walked over and gently pried Angela from her father's grasp. "She's right, Angel. Everyone from St. Christina's will use Slytherin Manor as the school. We don't want you children getting hurt any more."  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry, Mama, I didn't mean to ignore you. I just saw Daddy first," Angela hung her head before enveloping Lily in an enormous hug.  
  
"It's all right, Angela Rose," Voldemort said, gliding over. "How about a hug, too?"  
  
"Grandfather!" she exclaimed happily, enveloping the Dark Lord in an enormous hug. "I missed you!"  
  
"We missed you too, Angel," Lily said happily. "All right, time to find Aunt Ceilia."  
  
"No need to, I'm right behind you." Damien turned and hugged his Aunt. "Hello, Damien," she said, attracting Angela's attention.  
  
"Oh, I didn't see you there," she said, walking over. "Who are you?"  
  
Lily grinned. "We found him, Angela. It's Damien."  
  
"Damien?" she asked softly, her obsidian eyes wide. "Oh my-" She looked him up and down hesitantly before embracing him.  
  
The two telepaths gently brushed minds, reveling in the feeling of their family being complete. _Wow,_ they thought giddily, joined by their parents, Grandfather and Great Aunt.  
  
_The portkeys are done and distributed to the students, as well as an emergency one to a trusted family member in case the Government ups the raids_.  
  
_What raids???_ Voldemort asked sharply.  
  
_The ones the Feds say they don't know about, the ones that involve snapping wands and killing our kind, but how come the leaders wear FBI or CIA jackets?_ Angela asked, toying with a crimson curl.  
  
_We need to step up the operations and start to move to places other than Europe,_ Voldemort thought grimly. _They can't do this! We're better than them! We're the evolved species, not them!  
_  
Damien kept his mouth shut, torn. On one hand, his Grandfather actively promoted genocide of perhaps 95% of the entire world's population. On the other hand, they were going to kill all the witches and wizards._ I hate having to choose either us or them. It sucks. Why can't we get along?  
_  
The church suddenly shook, and Damien rushed to the window. _Get along and preach about peace later, right now we have to defend ourselves!_ Lily snapped, rushing next to him. About two hundred and fifty people were outside, waving signs and brandishing rifles, semiautomatics, and one person even had a grenade launcher. They were chanting about killing the evil spawn that had taken over the church. They ducked back, out of the line of fire. Smoke filled the vestibule, and the six of them ducked back over to the Floo, coughing. They could see flames licking the beautifully oaken walls. Angela and Lily concentrated on putting out the fire and banishing the smoke, but as soon as they had put one out another one sprung up.  
  
"I have to get the rest of the order! They'll kill my sisters!" Ceilia yelled over the noise, running back into the burning convent.  
  
Voldemort let out a string of curses that would have had most sailors blushing. "Right, Damien, Severus, we need distractions so Ceilia's convent can get out of here without anyone getting hurt." Damien and Severus moved to the windows, both of them firing off curses left and right at the angry mob. Lily and Angela took care of putting out fires and shielding the others from bullets and the occasional grenade, and Voldemort called for Death Eater backup through the Mark. Black robed figures began pouring out of the fireplace and joined the two at the windows, adding to the curses.  
  
"It's too bloody bad our shields only work for curses," One Death Eater remarked to another.  
  
"Yeah, otherwise I'd just go out there and blow the lot of them to hell," the other replied.  
  
Damien thought a minute. _Damn it, where's Hermione when you need her? She'd know what to do!_ Voldemort nodded and called to Slytherin Manor, Ron, Draco and Hermione tumbling out of the Floo seconds later.  
  
"Hey, what's the prob?" Hermione asked, the three of them crouching next to Damien.  
  
"I'm picking your brain, all of yours. How do we shield to stop bullets without having to redirect every bullet?" he asked, ducking as yet another one whizzed by. "AVADA KEDAVRA!!!" he roared back, the person who shot at them falling dead to the ground. Ron followed suit, and the two of them took out several more gunmen, as well as someone in a FBI jacket. "The FEDS are out there!" Damien hissed angrily. "This is madness!" He looked behind him at a sudden movement to see a group of forty nuns, ranging in age from barely older than himself to the late seventies, all carrying wands and shoulder-bags, come creeping up the isles and into the vestibule. Two had crystal gazing balls under their arms, and another had a satchel full of shrunken potions ingredients. They were followed by several Death Eaters, Lucius Malfoy included, who were leading twenty students behind them.  
  
Hermione and Draco put their heads together for a minute, then shouted, their wands and wand hands conjoined, "Impervious Protego!" A translucent, flexible shield shot out of their wands and encircled the entire church. The gunmen, determined to destroy the magical beings inside, continued firing, the bullets ricocheting off the shield and back into the crowd, killing and wounding several dozen Muggles. They stopped firing, confused and terrified.  
  
Damien, Draco, Hermione and Ron eased away from the window, Severus and Voldemort following them as they herded the terrified nuns, as well as the students, Angela included, over to the Floo, gesturing for everyone to go to safety. Voldemort turned, and seeing the four of them still by the window, gestured for them to leave as well.  
  
"But we want to help," Draco resolutely responded, gripping his wand.  
  
"Go!" Voldemort hissed, pointing towards the Floo. "It's only a matter of time before they get through the shields!"  
  
"And we want to help," Damien stood next to Draco proudly, his face set. Hermione nodded, while Ron looked indecisive. Suddenly, a bullet pierced the shields and flew through the window, striking one of the students in the arm. She let out a soft cry and fell.  
  
"BLAISE!!!" Draco yelled, diving and catching her.  
  
Ron's face blanched. _Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit,_ he chanted mentally, taking the trembling girl from Draco.  
  
"I'll take her back," he said quietly. Draco stared him in the eye for a second and nodded. Ron stumbled to the Floo carrying her in his arms. "It's all right, Blaise, he murmured softly. "I've got you. Slytherin Manor!" he called, throwing the Floo powder into the flames and stepping through.  
  
Damien, Draco and Hermione nodded and continued firing Killing Curses, Incendios, Stupefies, and Crucios rapidly into the crowd. The Death Eaters joined them at the windows as soon as the civilians had left, firing curses of their own. "We need to shield this place again," Voldemort warned. "I'm not losing a single person to this trash."  
  
Damien, Draco and Hermione joined their right hands together, holding their wands conjoined. "Impervious Protego!!!" they yelled again. Silver shot from their wands and formed a slid barrier almost a foot thick. "Wow," they breathed, staring at it in wonder.  
  
"Everyone MOVE!!" Lily snapped, the Death Eaters piling into the Floo and some, the stronger ones, Apparating across the Atlantic. Draco, Damien and Hermione were ushered into the Floo and found themselves back at Slytherin Manor. Ceilia and Voldemort Apparated last of all, making sure that everyone was gone. Five minutes later, when the shield fell, the Muggle left alive stormed the cathedral, only to find that everyone had vanished.  
  
** Slytherin Manor   
  
** Damien, Draco and Hermione fell into a heap on the floor of the Library, their limbs tangled and askew. "Gerrof!" Damien yelled, laughing.  
  
Draco rolled off of him, sniggering. "Ok, whoever was tickling me had better stop!" he gasped. Hermione grinned and rolled away from them and stood up, her face suddenly coloring. Damien poked his head up to stare into the amused faces of Lucius, Narcissa, Voldemort, Ceilia, Severus and Lily.  
  
"Oops," he muttered, standing up and hauling Draco to his feet as well.  
  
"Oh, please, don't stop on our account," Lucius smirked, his fingers intertwined with his wife's.  
  
"Yes, don't let us interrupt a tender moment," Severus sniggered.  
  
Damien blushed slightly, as did Draco. Hermione just stared at the adults coolly. "Indeed." Without warning she deeply kissed Draco on the lips, grinning slightly at the strangled moan that escaped.  
  
Damien scowled. "What, you're just going to ignore me?" he asked, mock irritably. Draco swung around and kissed him, grinning slightly, Damien, against his better judgment, purred softly, causing Hermione start as well, rubbing herself against Draco's back, and Draco smirked at the two of them.  
  
That could be interesting. He turned, grinning openly at the gob smacked expressions on the adults faces. "Well, you did tell us not to stop, so we aren't. Come on!" he laughed, grabbing Damien and Hermione's hands, pulling them out of the Library.  
  
Voldemort stared at the slamming door in amazement. "I did NOT just see that," he muttered. Lucius sighed.  
  
"So, when do we implement the plans?" Severus asked, desperate to change the subject. Everyone brightened and much planning ensued.  
  
** The Next Morning   
**  
Hermione, Draco and Damien strode into the Library, grinning like the cat that ate the canary. Angela and Ron were sitting on one of the couches, talking intently, and Blaise was curled up, her head resting on Angela's lap, the other girl stroking her hair. "I mean it, Blaise," Angela said softly. "I don't mind at all. Besides, Ron, you feel good, familiar almost. I'm willing to give this a try."  
  
"Ron's a telepath," Damien said quietly, coming up behind him. He recognized 'the talk' when he saw it. "Hermione, he, and I have been able to talk since First Year when we met, but while she and I knew we were attracted to each other, with Ron he feels like our sibling."  
  
Angela stared at her brother for a minute. "Good morning to you, too," she said in her soft Creole accent. Damien gave her a hug. She turned and stared at Ron appraisingly. _You can hear me? she asked hesitantly.  
  
Of course. Hey, you feel... good. Interesting. Like home._ The slightly jumbled thoughts filled Angela's mind. Ron blushed.  
  
Damien, Hermione and Draco looked at each other. _All right, what's going on?_ Draco asked suspiciously.  
  
_ I could be wrong, but I think they're a triumvirate like we are,_ Damien said, his eyes wide.  
  
_Wait- you three are together???_ Blaise gasped mentally.  
  
_ You're a telepath?_ Draco asked, confused.  
  
Hermione and Angela started to laugh.  
  
_What?_ Ron and Damien asked, confused.  
  
_You all are so funny,_ the two girls giggled, Hermione sitting down on Ron's lap and hugging her brother.  
  
"Good morning," she chirped. Draco and Damien laughed, settling on the other couch. Hermione stood up and settled herself across their laps, snuggling into Damien's chest.  
  
"You're in a good mood. Someone must have gotten laid last night," Ron remarked.  
  
Blaise and Angela grinned, smirking at him. "Yes, and it was wonderful," Angela deadpanned.  
  
Ron threw up his hands in exasperation. "Am I the ONLY one NOT having sex around here???"  
  
Draco grinned at Blaise, who blushed. _You didn't- YOU DID!_ she screamed mentally, throwing herself at Draco and pounding him. _YOU TOLD!!!  
  
_ Damien grinned. _Yes, well, he has the same problem, you see, he thinks you're bloody hot and-_ he was cut off by Ron launching himself at Damien, beating him black and blue in an effort to shut him up.  
  
Blaise stared at him appraisingly. _So, while Angela and I are already dating, Ron and I like each other and he and Angela's minds mesh in the most delicious way. You really think we're a triumvirate as well?  
_  
Draco smirked._ Yes, little sister, I think you three get along very well and should look into the idea. Besides, three in bed is so much fun.  
  
_ Ron perked up at the though of being in bed with, in his opinion, the two hottest girls on the planet. Angela and Blaise looked at each other with matching smirks.  
  
Voldemort and Ceilia walked into the Library, deep in conversation. Sirius and Remus walked a few steps behind, also intent in their conversation. They barely noticed that anyone else was there as they disappeared amongst the books, still intent on conversing with each other.  
  
"I wonder what they're talking about?" Ron asked suspiciously.  
  
"No clue." Damien stretched, covering a yawn.  
  
"For your information, we were discussing the lesson plan." Voldemort glided up behind Ron, Angela and Blaise. Ron jumped almost a foot in the air, swearing.  
  
"Don't DO that!" he snapped, clutching his chest.  
  
"Today, we will continue with the curses we started yesterday, continue with a version of Polyjuice that lasts for a month at a time as well as it's counter potion, and then Angela will begin Animagus training, as she is the only one who can't yet transform. Judging by her bondsmates, she will be a wolf of some sort."  
  
Ron looked at Blaise. "What're you?" Blaise transformed into a jet black wolf with ice blue eyes. Angela sighed and transformed into a pure white wolf with ebony eyes.  
  
"On second thought," Voldemort said, staring at his granddaughter in surprise, "let's all just transform and play in the forest for a while." He transformed himself, an enormous black Phoenix with silver tipped wings and glowing red eyes.  
  
"SWEET!!" Ron yelled. "He's a Shadow Phoenix!" Damien reached over and stroked the inky feathers, admiring him. The enormous bird let out an impatient trill, gesturing for them to transform. Remus and Sirius transformed at will, curling up on the carpet in front of the fire next to the slumbering Nagini.  
  
Lily and Severus walked in and watched as Lord Voldemort flapped his wings impatiently. Ceilia rolled her eyes and, adjusting her habit, transformed herself into a Treasure phoenix, her brilliant green and brownish gold plumage flashing in the light.  
  
_What are you waiting for???_ she called impatiently, joining her twin in a burst of song. _Transform!  
_  
Lucius and Narcissa walked into the room and, getting the idea instantly, transformed as well, two adorable marmosets, one a dark brown and gold, the other golden brown and white, playfully scampered across the floor. Draco sighed and transformed into his panther form, the two miniature monkeys climbing onto his back. Damien and Hermione transformed, leaving Severus and Lily.  
  
Severus went first, and a Siberian tiger joined the throng of animals. Lily transformed, and a Burmese tiger stood in her place. Everyone quickly ran out of the library and down the hallways to the front entrance where they raced or flew to the lawn and into the forest. There, Draco let his parents off and the two chattering marmosets took to the trees, chasing each other through the branches.  
  
Damien, Draco and Hermione curled up, Angela, Blaise and Ron joining them. Lily and Severus ambled over, followed by Remus and Sirius and curled up as well, content to just lay there. Damien nudged Angela, who swiped at his tail, and the two took off chasing each other and mock fighting, rolling on the soft moss and lush vegetation. Draco and Hermione extracted themselves from the dog and cat pile to climb the nearest tree. They lounged on the lower branches comfortably, watching as Damien chased his sister in and out of the trees, only to have the tables turned and scamper off, Angela on his paws.  
  
They played for several hours, until they were joined by forty four animals, ranging from a green tree viper to an alligator, to a harpy eagle, who then transformed into the twenty nuns from Ceilia's convent and their twenty four students. Voldemort transformed back, impressed. "You taught all of them Animagi already?" he asked.  
  
The deputy mother superior grinned. "Well, they caught us transforming and wanted to learn. Besides, as none of them have magical forms, it makes it easy if there's a raid. We just pretend we're an animal hospital, not a magic school."  
  
"How about we have lessons out here?" she continued, looking around. "I can spot several hundred exotic magical plants and potions ingredients, which we could have them harvest- I mean, identify for us," she said with a smirk.  
  
Voldemort grinned thoughtfully. "And since we were going to practice those dark- I mean defense spells, they have plenty to practice on out here. Yes. All right, transform back," he called to everyone. Within minutes, there were twenty eight adults and thirty students crowded around him. "We're going to work outdoors, so get into groups of six and we'll get started."  
  
Damien, Hermione, Ron, Draco, Blaise and Angela grouped themselves together, grinning. No matter what they were going to do, they knew it would be fun.  
  
** Three days later, the Grounds of Slytherin Manor   
**  
"Remus, how did you know?" Damien asked idly while reading a Dark Arts book that had belonged to Salazar Slytherin himself.  
  
"Know what, cub?" Remus asked absently, leafing through One hundred Most Deadly Potions.  
  
"Know that I wasn't Harry Potter and switch sides?" Ron lifted his head from his study group with Blaise and Angela. Draco and Hermione did the same, eager to hear the story.  
  
Remus sighed, marking his page. "Well, cub, first of all you didn't SMELL like a Potter. You may have looked like James, but you were NOT his son. That much I could tell right away. Second, Lily Evans Potter didn't smell or even look exactly like the Lily Evans we had known at school."  
  
Sirius walked in. "Third, Lily was never pregnant."  
  
"What?" Draco asked curiously. "How the hell could they think you were so stupid?"  
  
"I dunno," Sirius admitted, sitting next to Remus. "But, James changed our seventh year. He almost stopped talking to us for three months and then suddenly acted all buddy buddy, as if nothing had happened. Also, he was obsessed with Lily Evans, always staring at her and trying to chat her up when he hadn't ever talked to her. He even managed to break her and Severus up for about a week, and he tried to move in on her immediately, but she didn't go for it. And, then somehow he winds up married to a chick he tells us is Lily Evans, and she looks like Lily Evans, but she doesn't know anything that happened during school. It was so strange, and we couldn't tell you sooner because Dumbledore had you under his control."  
  
"So, when did you switch sides?" Hermione asked.  
  
"I switched in Azkaban," Sirius admitted. "I talked to some of the Death Eaters sentenced there, and realized that Dumbledore let me go into Azkaban. He knew all along that Pettigrew was a spy, but let the Potters switch secret keepers. he even knew that Pettigrew was still alive and all. It was horrible."  
  
"I switched when Siri talked to me about what he suspected. Siri contacted Voldemort, asking questions and I tagged along for the ride." Remus stretched and put down the book. "Any other questions?"  
  
Just an idea on how to get you free from Dumbledore completely," Draco offered. "We perfected the plan and we're ready to implement it."  
  
"Do tell," Remus said eagerly.  
  
"Well, it's Damien's idea," Draco began, only to be interrupted.  
  
"It's not just my idea. Everyone helped," Damien protested.  
  
Draco rolled his eyes. "Quit being so damn noble, Snape! You came up with the idea, so shut it!" Quickly, he laid out the plan, outlining all the major points.  
  
Remus looked impressed. "And how soon can we implement this?" he asked, grinning. Sirius stared at his Godson proudly.  
  
"Actually, we'll be doing this at the next Death Eater meeting," Draco warned.  
  
Remus nodded. "So, that gives us what, less than a week?" he asked.  
  
"Four days," Damien interjected. "We'll be ready in four days."  
  
"All right, let's get started," Draco grinned, standing up. "I hope we'll be given a pass on lessons for the next couple of days, as this'll take all our time."  
  
Voldemort grinned at him from the doorway. "Oh, everyone is getting the next couple of days off," he smirked. "We have to get everyone fitted for Death Eater robes and masks. It'll give the old bat something to worry about, that our numbers have suddenly grown without his spy being aware of it."  
  
"Let's get started," Ceilia ordered, standing next to her twin. "It'll be really funny to think that my twin's padding his numbers with nuns..." she mused, earning giggles and snorts from everyone.  
  
** Four Days Later, Riddle Manor   
**  
Damien and Draco took their places, both slightly nervous. _Are you ready?_ Draco asked, his mental voice extremely anxious.  
  
_ As ready as I will ever be. Its better that we have the masks, so the spy won't know who we are. _Damien adjusted the leash and solver studded collar on the 'werewolf' he was guiding. In reality, the 'werewolf' was a transfigured mouse who had been transfused completely with Remus's werewolf blood prior to transfiguration. The mouse was therefore allergic to silver, playing the role perfectly.  
  
They waited in the library at Riddle Manor, the 'werewolf' scratching itself and nosing around. Suddenly, it let out an excited yip and bound forward, pulling Damien across the room. "Down, boy! DOWN!" he yelled ineffectively, Draco snickering helplessly. "HEEL!!! HEEL!!!" Damien yelped, slamming into the suddenly still wolf. Well, almost still. It was happily munching a bag of sunflower seeds Hermione had dropped the day before.  
  
Draco grabbed his sides, laughing hysterically as Damien tried to drag the munching wolf from the bag. It wouldn't budge.  
  
_ It's time,_ Voldemort called.  
  
_ Tactical error. The mouse found the sunflower seeds!!! _Draco called back, laughing.  
  
Voldemort snickered mentally. I_ suppose I'll have to cover for you. Do arrive a little bloody and bruised, would you?_ he asked wryly.  
  
Draco and Damien shook their heads. "I supposed he expects us to punch each other?" Draco asked wryly.  
  
"I can't!" Damien rolled his eyes. "You don't deserve it!"  
  
"I can." Draco punched Damien square across the face. Damien snarled and jumped on him, tearing the other's boy's robes and yanking at his hair. Draco fell to the floor with Damien on top of him and they froze.  
  
"Well, well," Damien began a little huskily. "What have we here?" He leaned down, kissing Draco harshly.  
  
Draco moaned, pulling at Damien's hair.  
  
_ COME ON!!!_ Voldemort yelled. _This is NO time for an unplanned make out session!!!_ They hastily straightened their robes and donned their masks, steeling themselves.  
  
The two of them managed to drag the protesting werewolf away from the sunflower seeds and through the hallway into the meeting room. They coolly strode through the assembled Death Eaters to Voldemort's throne. "My Lord," Damien intoned gravely. "The spying werewolf, as promised."  
  
"Very good," hissed the Dark Lord eagerly. "Cage him for me, my loyal followers." Damien and Draco dragged the suddenly howling and writhing beast into a large silver cage in the center of the room.  
  
_Grandfather, your acting skills are amazing, _Damien thought admiringly.  
  
Voldemort grinned. _Who said I'm acting? I'm enjoying this.  
_  
Damien's face twisted in disgust behind his mask. _Ummm, ok,_ he muttered.  
  
Draco grinned. _You know, you DID ask the Dark Lord for help. He isn't the Dark Lord because he cuddles bunnies and collects Beanie Babies._ He grinned sadistically at the caged and trembling wolf, its paws burned form where it was touching the silver bars.  
  
Damien could only stand next to the masked and robed Hermione, Ron, and Angela and watch, extremely sickened, as his parents, the Malfoys, Blaise, and his Grandfather tortured the transfigured wolf to death, putting on a show for the spy to take back to Dumbledore.  
  
_That is disgusting,_ Damien thought, his eyes wide as the wolf finally died, after hours upon hours of agonized howls and whimpers._ So, the Revels I saw, where you tortured entire Muggle families, raping those little children and torturing them to death- that was real? You ACTUALLY enjoyed that?  
  
_ _ Of course,_ Voldemort said, his voice coldly logical. _We're superior to them in every way. They're nothing but filth that pollute our planet, waste our resources, and try to exterminate us at every turn. We have to hide ourselves and what we are because of their hatred of being inferior and their hatred of anything different.  
_  
Damien stared at them, sickened. _I don't believe this,_ he muttered. He, Ron and Hermione walked out of the Revel, unable to deal with the revelations.  
  
Damien suddenly sprinted to the nearest bathroom, vomiting violently. Hermione soothed him, rubbing his back as he dry heaved, tears streaming down his face. "Why?" he managed to gasp out. "Why? Why can't there be peace?"  
  
"Because they hate us," Angela answered coolly, sitting on the sink. Draco and Blaise stood in the doorway, their eyes burning with intensity. "You didn't live it, I did. I lived the hate and the rage and the fear for fifteen years! My home, my life was attacked on a weekly basis! I couldn't go outside for fear of my LIFE. Every Muggle in New Orleans knew I was a witch, and they hated me! They threw stones! They shot at the convent and burned it down twice! Do you think that what happened last week was unusual? It happened every other month! Two nuns were murdered and the police did NOTHING!!! We are superior to them! They should be bowing down and kissing our feet, and yet they try to kill us!" She stared at Hermione eerily. "You know," she said quietly. "You know what it's like to be hated and feared because of who you are and your powers. That man I saw in your dreams feared you and wanted to hurt you. You are a witch, the continuation of an exceptionally powerful bloodline, a fresh influx of magic in your Squib heritage. You know what it's like to be hated for something that sets you apart."  
  
Hermione's eyes misted over and a tear rolled down her cheek. "I don't want to be a child murderer!" she spat. "I don't want to be no better than that filth that tried to hurt me!!" Sobs wracked her body and Damien wiped his mouth, leaving the toilet to hold her close.  
  
Ron nodded tersely in agreement. "I don't like hurting people like that."  
  
Angela stared at him, her gaze unreadable. "What happened to you?" she asked finally.  
  
Ron's mouth opened and closed helplessly. Draco pulled the girl aside and whispered in her ear, Ron's eyes glazing over and tears rolling down his cheeks. Angela's eyes tightened and her sneer became more and more pronounced as he talked. Finally, Draco backed away and she turned to Ron, her face cold.  
  
"Don't say anything, I know you're disgusted that I let it happen," Ron whispered miserably.  
  
Angela's eyes widened. "No, I'm furious that they hurt you and I'm going to rip their entrails out their anus and that'll be the LEAST of what I do to them," she said firmly, hugging Ron close, motioning to Blaise over Ron's scarlet mop of hair. Blaise took the hint and joined the hug, stroking Ron's hair comfortingly.  
  
"I think a trip to the Burrow is in order, don't you think?" Angela asked the other girl. At Blaise's confused look, she hastily explained in an almost inaudible whisper what the Twins had done. Blaise snarled and nodded eagerly, ready to hurt the people who had dared to hurt her bondsmate.  
  
Draco stared at Damien coolly. "Well, Snape, it's up to you. Will you return to Dumbledore and stick your head in the sand or will you face what is actually happening? The Dursleys are a normal Muggle reaction to Magic. If they hadn't have already hated you and magic, they wouldn't have been able to stomach hurting you the way they did. It's up to you, Snape. Which, to you, is the lesser of two evils? Do we ignore the way Muggles treat witches and wizards, or do we fight back?"  
  
"I don't torture people for the hell of it. That's WRONG!" Damien protested. "Regardless of whether or not they're magic, they're still people!"  
  
"And if they had their way, they'd kill every last one of us," Blaise coolly shot back. "I dare you do go through the streets in America, or China, or even England with your wand, doing magic. People have, you know. They were killed- burned at the stake or stoned or had their throat slit... after the Muggles broke their wands. Without our wands, we're defenseless. Well, the rest of us are, anyway. You three though... Wandless magic."  
  
"Yeah, they solved that problem for themselves," Draco grinned. "And, thankfully they taught us as well."  
  
Damien scowled. "I can hurt the Dursleys for hurting me, and I WANT to, but it isn't right!!"  
  
Draco rolled his eyes. "Will you stop moralizing everything? You KNOW how it feels to do the Dark Arts! The rush of power is incredible! Where do you think the power comes from? It's from knowing that you can do that to another human being and get away with it!"  
  
Ron stared at them with a slightly pensive look. "Does that mean I can hurt the twins as badly as they hurt me without any fear of getting caught?" he asked, quietly, drawing strength from the two girls holding him.  
  
Draco nodded. "In fact, we could go tonight or tomorrow, if you want to." Ron grinned evilly, nodding hastily.  
  
Hermione stared at them calculatingly. "I have Muggle friends who know I'm a witch," she said quietly.  
  
Draco's eyebrows rose, as did Angela's and Blaise's. "And they just accept that? They didn't turn on you or try to hurt you?"  
  
"No, they thought, think it's cool. They wanted to see me do a few spells and Katie, my best friend outside Hogwarts took me into her home when it got bad with my parents, even after I told her."  
  
Draco cocked his head to the side, thinking. "So you say there are Muggles who wouldn't hurt us if they had the chance. I wouldn't have a problem with leaving them be, but I'm sick of hiding!"  
  
"So, how about we limit the torturing and killing to the people who deserve it?" Damien asked quietly.  
  
"Does this mean you've chosen?" Draco asked coolly.  
  
"Yes. I choose my family. But, I don't agree that all Muggles need to die. The ones in positions of authority, yes. The ones who hate us, yes. People like Hermione's friends do exist, and I don't think they should be hurt for something they didn't do."  
  
"I can live with that," Voldemort said quietly for where he had been standing behind Draco, listening. Lily, Severus, Lucius and Narcissa nodded. "I think we can all live with that. We're not complete monsters, you know. If you can produce names of people that shouldn't be hurt or killed, we'll leave them alone."  
  
"I can live with that," Damien said thoughtfully. He grinned slightly. "And I could learn to enjoy seeing the people who deserve it suffer."  
  
Hermione shook her head. "I'll never enjoy watching children suffer. That's just wrong."  
  
"Why is it wrong?" Lucius Malfoy asked, confused.  
  
"Because children can be reeducated, reprogrammed if you will. Especially at a young age. Really, until a child is seven they just parrot what their parents tell them to say. I've taken Muggle psychology coursed over the summers I was at my parents' house. The psychologists were right when they said the age or reason is eight. Before that, they don't think on their own."  
  
"Hmmm," Voldemort said. "What would we do with all the children left over?"  
  
Hermione stopped, her mouth open. Reluctantly, she admitted, "I don't know."  
  
Draco chuckled. "So, all these Muggle children will be left, with no idea of what to do with them." Hermione nodded soberly.  
  
"If I come up with something, will you consider it?" she asked, mind in overdrive.  
  
Voldemort nodded. "Now, could we get back to the Revel? The Spy will be questioning our disappearance." With nods all around, they walked calmly back into the meeting room, their Death Eater robes and masks in place.  
  
** Slytherin Manor, The Next Morning   
**  
Blaise dragged Ron and Angela into the Library. "We are going to the Burrow to deal with those shits whether you like it or not, Ron and that's final!" she snapped, dragging them to the fireplace. Draco, Damien and Hermione looked up from the essays they were writing, intrigued by what was going on. They heard Blaise throw Floo powder in and yell "THE BURROW!!" and immediately understood.  
  
"We're coming too," Damien announced firmly, following after Blaise. Ron went next, followed by Hermione, Draco and Angela.  
  
They found themselves in the kitchen of the Burrow. Damien took one look at Ron and grasped his friend's hand reassuringly. He took a look around himself and immediately understood. Fred and George stood in front of them, wearing identical sneers of contempt.  
  
_Hey, don't Slytherins hold the patent for that look? _Blaise wondered idly, her hands on Ron's shoulders. Angela held Ron's other hand, squeezing his fingers.  
  
"Well look, it's Ickle Ronnikins," Fred sneered.  
  
"He's back from his trip into Death Eatersville," George spat, his hand on his wand. Ron wavered slightly, unsteady on his feet.  
  
_ Ron, don't you dare pass out!_ Draco snapped, his hand glowing an eerie silver color. Blaise stared at his hand in wonder.  
  
_Wandless magic??_ She gasped mentally. _It's beautiful!  
_  
_It may be beautiful, but it's hella draining,_ Damien grimly retorted, his hand glowing viridian. On his other side, Hermione's fingers glowed cobalt. Ron looked at the colors playing around his friends' hands and his fingers tinged crimson.  
  
_You are so teaching us how to do that,_ Angela remarked.  
  
"We've come to give you what you deserve," Damien growled.  
  
"Who the bloody fuck are you?" George snapped.  
  
"Voldemort's Heir," Draco snapped, his entire arm glowing silver and his hair ruffling from the wind Hermione was creating.  
  
Damien grinned. _This is fun!_ he laughed, his entire body wreathed in viridian green.  
  
Fred and George stared at the glowing man before them uneasily. "Bloody hell, man, why are you glowing?"  
  
"Because I'm a mage," Damien replied easily, watching as their faces blanched and they stepped back, gripping their wands so tightly their hands were white.  
  
_You know, you shouldn't call yourself that,_ Draco warned. _Especially since you aren't one.  
_  
_Technically, we all are magi, _Hermione intervened. _We all have the arcane magic mastered. Me, Damien and Ron do, at least. You almost do, the same as Voldemort, Lily and Severus. So, he's not wrong.  
_  
"You hurt my brother," Damien purred, his eyes flashing.  
  
"Bull shit. Has he been lying again??" Fred burst out angrily.  
  
Damien transformed into Harry Potter. "Say you're lying again, you shits. I saw you two summers ago. You thought I was asleep. Didn't you know that I have natural shields? Only very strong people can successfully cast spells against me. You two aren't powerful enough. So, the Dormis didn't work."  
  
"What???" snapped Fred, his face pale. "You little BITCH!!" he hissed at Ron, his expression contorted in hatred and rage. "You just try to do anything to us, you weak little bitch! Come on, whore, time for some punishment."  
  
"I don't think so," Hermione, Angela and Blaise growled, wands and glowing fingers leveled at the twins.  
  
"And what do YOU think you're going to do to us?" George asked, sneering. "You're younger than us and weak. You hang out with my pathetic loser of a brother, Ickle Ronnie, so you must be pathetic."  
  
Damien growled, his eyes flashing red, glowing so that he eerily looked like a much younger Dark Lord. Fred and George backed up and stared at the glowing boy fearfully. "That was a little weird," Fred muttered. "Stupefy!"  
  
Damien threw up a hand and the curse bounced right off.  
  
"Petrificus Totalis!" George tried. Again, Damien threw up a hand and the spell ricocheted into the wall, knocking over a pan. It fell to the floor with a loud crash.  
  
"This isn't working, George," Fred warned, his face pensive.  
  
"I concur, Fred." They immediately tried to Apparate, but Hermione and Ron threw up and AntiApparation ward, keeping them in place. As one, they turned to the six of them fearfully.  
  
"What are you going to do?" they asked in unison.  
  
"Hmmm," Hermione grinned evilly. "What do you think, Draco?"  
  
Draco hissed something unintelligible and they were instantly transfigured into a pair of matching weasels. Blaise grinned and waved her wand, the Weasels suddenly bouncing off the walls, ceiling, and the furniture. Damien transfigured them back with a wave of his hand and they stood, gasping for air.  
  
"Crucio," Damien hissed as he reverted back to his natural body. The two of them twitched and fell to the ground, screaming in agony.  
  
Ron's mouth fell open. "I- um... Damien, could I take a turn?" he asked quietly, his eyes welled with tears.  
  
"Sure!" Damien grinned evilly, releasing the twins from the Wandless curse. They crumpled into the fetal position, sobs wracking their bodies.  
  
Ron raised a hand. "Inferno!" he snapped, and Incendio's big brother from hell sped towards the twins, engulfing them. Shrill screams filled the air, and Damien idly wondered where Molly Weaseley or anyone else was.  
  
_ Someone should be here,_ Hermione thought worriedly. _Where are they?  
_  
Damien stood and watched, part of him screaming it was horribly wrong, and part of him reveling that the twins were dying right in front of him. _They deserve it, the filthy bastards_, he reminded himself and the part of him that hated the sight protested a little less loudly.  
  
_You see the attraction now, Damien?_ Draco asked, his arm around the other boy's waist.  
  
_They deserve it. They deserve every thing we've done, _Damien growled angrily, watching proudly as Ron killed his tormentors.  
  
_ The Dursleys deserve it, too, Damien_, Hermione reminded him, rubbing his back soothingly.  
  
_They do, don't they,_ Damien thoughtfully remarked. _I didn't handle it too well when I saw them last._


	4. The Lesser of Two Evils Continued

_No one expected you to, Damien,_ Draco said quietly. _You had been at Slytherin Manor, unconscious for only a week, and it was your second day awake. No one expected you to even get out of bed.  
  
And I tried to redecorate the wall with your brains. Sorry about that,_ Damien winced.  
  
Draco scowled slightly. _Yes, well, you didn't know any better. I guess I could forgive you.  
  
Besides, you slammed me across the face earlier. I think that made up for that hit.  
  
You wish._ Draco ruffled his hair, causing Damien's eyes to glaze over.  
  
_Mmm, don't stop,_ Damien protested when the hand was removed.  
  
_ Torture makes you horny? Good Lord we have another Voldemort on our hands,_ Draco said with a laugh.  
  
_Correction- YOU make me horny, as does Hermione. The both of you together make me so hard I can't think about anything else. But, torture? That doesn't get me off in the slightest. And I didn't need that visual about my Grandfather, thankyouverymuch!_ Damien scowled as everyone else laughed, Ron looking vaguely disgusted as he chuckled.  
  
_Mate, I did NOT need to hear that about my brother and sister and hopeful new brother,_ Ron thought, still laughing. He looked down and noticed that nothing remained of his tormentors except for a fine ashy powder. _Whoops, I let them cook for far too long, _he thought ruefully. _I wanted to play with them some more.  
  
Love, they've been dead for almost ten minutes. Inferno kills within a minute. Its' that intense._ Angela hugged Ron comfortingly. _They felt excruciating pain, and then they died.  
  
Damn it!!!_ Ron snapped. _I knew I should have used Incendio! I wanted them to really suffer!  
_  
Hermione shook her head. "Can we do my parents next?" she asked hopefully. "I want to transfigure and then- ooh, I know! I'll transfigure them into dogs and light their tails on fire and make my mom a bitch in heat and a Chihuahua and my dad a Doberman... it'll be fun!!!" _Oh, but that's a nasty image... yuck. I'm gonna be sick._ Hermione turned green and pressed a hand over her mouth, willing back the vomit that threatened to spew forth.  
  
_ Hermione, you did that to yourself,_ Angela reminded her.  
  
_Don't remind me. I'm too creative for my own good. _Hermione gulped and swallowed convulsively, her entire body shaking. That was nasty.  
  
_Right, we need to get out of here,_ Blaise said decisively, ushering everyone to the Floo.  
  
_ I still want to know where everyone is and why they were the only ones home,_ Ron muttered.  
  
Damien smacked his forehead. _Duh! The clock!_ He rushed over to the clock and read the hands. They were all pointed to Order Headquarters.  
  
_ Everyone's at the Order,_ Damien announced  
  
_ Right, then, let's go before we're discovered._ Draco herded them to the Floo and they returned to Slytherin Manor.  
  
They tumbled through the Floo to find an extremely angry Voldemort on the other end. He waited until everyone was out of the fireplace.  
  
"WHAT DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING???" he bellowed, causing Damien to cower back in fear before realizing it wasn't Vernon in front of him.  
  
"My Lord, please..." Draco gestured to the naked terror on Damien's face.  
  
Voldemort froze, stricken. "What- oh shit!" he swore. "Hermione, Draco, calm him down. You have an hour." Hermione and Draco gently took Damien's hands and pulled him from the room.  
  
Voldemort turned to the three remaining teenagers. "And where was it so important for you to be that you couldn't leave word or allow one of the adults to accompany you?" he snapped.  
  
Blaise and Angela set their jaws, encircling Ron's waist with their arms. "We took care of some unfinished business, grandfather," Angela said coolly.  
  
Voldemort mistook their gesture of support to tell him something completely different. "WE HAVE ROOMS IN THE CASTLE FOR SLYTHERIN'S SAKE!!! WHY DID YOU FEEL THE NEED TO COMPLETE YOUR BOND OUTSIDE SLYTHERIN MANOR???" he yelled, his face turning purple.  
  
"We did not do that!!!" Blaise snapped. "Ok, we did, but it was last night, not this morning. No, we took care of Ron's problems!"  
  
"What problems???" Voldemort snapped.  
  
"THE PROBLEM THAT MY TWIN BROTHERS HAVE BEEN USING ME FOR A SEX TOY SINCE I WAS SIX!!!!" Ron finally screamed, tears sliding down his cheeks.  
  
"Oh." Voldemort looked sheepish. He stared at Ron cautiously. "I trust that it's been taken care of?"  
  
"YES!!" screamed Angel and Blaise in exasperation.  
  
"All right, all right. Geez. So, how did it go?" Voldemort asked his hands up in a pacifying 'I surrender' pose.  
  
"They're dust in the wind," Ron said dreamily. "Eleven years of torture and all I had to do was cast Inferno."  
  
Voldemort grinned. "You like that spell?"  
  
"Not really. It went too fast. Dead in less than a minute. I wanted it to last longer." Ron pouted.  
  
Voldemort grinned. "We'll make a Death Eater out of all of you yet," he smirked.  
  
Ron sighed. "Yes, but I'm not killing anyone who doesn't deserve it. Random torture isn't my thing."  
  
"What is it with the younger crowd and the inability to properly torture a random person?" Voldemort asked, genuinely concerned.  
  
"I have no idea," Angela said.  
  
Blaise thought for a minute. "I guess it's that the three of them haven't been raised this way."  
  
"No, it's logical!" Ron protested. "Look, there are people who deserve it. The shits that attacked St. Christina's deserve to be strung up by their...oh, painful thought!" he said, grimacing. Voldemort grimaced as well.  
  
"Ooh, that wasn't pretty," the Dark Lord said with a pained look.  
  
"There are people who deserve it. They hate us and would kill us if given the opportunity. I have no qualms about killing them. This is war, and in war anything goes. But killing people who don't know any better or who actually think magic is cool isn't something I'm going to do," Ron explained.  
  
"Oh, so THAT'S what you mean by random people," Voldemort said, satisfied with the answer.  
  
"Exactly."  
  
"You do this means changing the rules about the way we operate," Blaise said suddenly.  
  
"I know. I'll have to break it to the Death Eaters gently. This'll crush them. I hope they don't sulk for too long," Voldemort said, walking from the library resolutely.  
  
"Death Eaters SULK??" Ron asked incredulously once the Dark Lord was out of earshot.  
  
Blaise and Angela laughed. "Come on," Blaise said, pulling both of them to their feet and out of the Library. "Let's go run." they transformed into wolves and sprinted out of the manor, reveling in the sunshine.  
  
** Hogwarts, the same time   
**  
"Albus, they killed Remus!" Severus Snape yelled, uncharacteristic tears streaming down his face. "They put him in a silver cage and they tortured him to death!"  
  
Dumbledore rested his face in his hands. "Oh, poor Remus. He did know the dangers of trying to get close to the Death Eaters. I only hope he managed to get a portkey to the Trio before he died. I don't understand it, my boy. Why did he kidnap them?"  
  
"He must know about Harry being his Heir, Albus," Severus Snape said, his face troubled. "But he hasn't mentioned anything to me. You don't think he's discovered I'm a spy, do you?"  
  
"Listen to me, my Heir," Dumbledore said, the twinkle gone from his eyes, revealing the steel underneath. "You are NOT to endanger yourself. I won't let you. Continue your spying duties only if you feel you are in no mortal danger. DO NOT do anything that'll let them kill you."  
  
"I won't, Grandfather," Severus Snape said with a slight smile.  
  
"You are too precious to me to lose," Dumbledore said with finality.  
  
"I love you too, Grandfather," Severus Snape said with a smile and left the office.  
  
"Stay safe, my boy," Dumbledore whispered. "Stay safe."  
  
**Slytherin Manor, Three Days Later   
**  
"Grandfather, could we learn how to Apparate?" Angela asked suddenly, in the middle of their lesson on Medieval Torture methods and their modern counterparts.  
  
"You don't know how to Apparate?" Draco and Blaise asked incredulously.  
  
"Nope!" Angela, Damien, Ron and Hermione answered cheerfully. The rest of the students from St. Christina's school nodded as well.  
  
"That's a bit more important than torture methods. All right, here's the basics."  
  
They spent the next three hours practicing Apparation. Everyone learned quickly, and, by the end of the day, all thirty students could Apparate with ease.  
  
** Riddle Manor, Four Days Later   
  
** The Death Eaters gathered, with the exception of Severus Snape, Hogwarts Professor, as Voldemort didn't want any of the day's proceedings to get back to Dumbledore. Once everyone loyal was assembled, Voldemort began.  
  
"We are going after the Grangers," he started without any preamble whatsoever.  
  
"My Lord?" Nott asked, confused slightly.  
  
"Hermione, my Grandson's bondsmate. Her family," Voldemort clarified.  
  
"Why? Wouldn't that make her angry?" McNair asked, completely lost.  
  
"On the contrary," Hermione smoothly interjected from where she stood, unnoticed, "it was a request. My parents are very unsavory people."  
  
"That's putting in mildly," Damien growled, his arms around her waist.  
  
"My I ask what they did to deserve your anger and hatred?" Parkinson asked.  
  
"It's simple. They don't give two shits about me," she snapped.  
  
"Easy, love," Draco said softly.  
  
"They spent my entire upbringing belittling me and making me feel worthless, they treated my magic like an abomination, they didn't pay any attention to me beyond the insults... The list could go on and on."  
  
Lucius Malfoy's gaze flitted to her wrists in understanding. "Give us addresses, and we'll take care of it," he said softly. She nodded, her face set.  
  
Damien handed her a piece of parchment and she scribbled down her home address. "Oh, yeah," she softly said. "My parents got a divorce." She wrote down another address, missing the entire room's reaction of disgust at the word divorce.  
  
She looked up and handed the parchment to Damien, who handed it to Lucius Malfoy. "What?" she asked, seeing the disgusted look on his face.  
  
"Divorce is something horrible in our society," Lily explained easily. "It's looked on as worse than murder. In fact," she grinned, "we take care of marital problems through murder, rather than the shame of divorce."  
  
Severus grimaced. "Something you want to tell me, Lily?" he joked.  
  
Lily smirked and he paled slightly.  
  
"All right, people, let's get to work!" Voldemort snapped, focusing everyone on the task at hand.  
  
"Right. Hermione, do you wish to be present for the raid?" Lucius asked her softly, understanding in his eyes.  
  
"Hell yes!" she said eagerly, her eyes shining evilly.  
  
Draco and Damien looked at each other over her head. "Uh oh, we've created a monster," Damien joked.  
  
Hermione grinned mischievously, taking their hands. "Let's go, you two," she chirped.  
  
** 312 Freemason Court, Granger Residence   
**  
Dr. Granger wiped his hands on a towel, having just finished with his last patient for the day. "ROSA!!!" he yelled, wanting his assistant.  
  
Rosa came traipsing in, her beautiful face vacuous as always. "Yes, Dr. Granger?"  
  
"Have there been any more last minute calls?"  
  
"Umm, no, but there's someone waiting in the lounge. He wants to speak to you."  
  
"Great, just great. I have to be at the lawyer's in an hour. Stupid bitch and her stupid daughter. I hate them both," he grumbled, stalking into the lounge.  
  
He stopped short, his mind refusing to cooperate with the rest of him. _Oh shit.  
_  
Hermione, Damien, Draco, Ron, Blaise, Angela and Lucius Malfoy stood in front of him, grinning evilly. "Hello, Father," his daughter purred.  
  
"What are you doing here?" he asked numbly, knowing that something was horribly wrong. "Did your mother send you? That stupid bitch. I told her I didn't want any visitation rights."  
  
"Oh no, and that bitch, as you called her, is next," Lucius smoothly interrupted. "However, we required your time. You are coming with us."  
  
"Hell no! I have to meet the bitch in an hour at the lawyer's office!" Dr. Granger protested, then suddenly fell silent as Hermione's murmured "stupefy" hit him. He slumped to the floor, unconscious.  
  
Hermione glared at him, her eyes stony. "Bastard," she muttered, grabbing a limp arm. Damien grabbed the other one, and Ron and Draco each grabbed a leg. They Apparated straight into the dungeons of Slytherin Manor, depositing him in a heap on the floor.  
  
Lucius Malfoy, Blaise and Angela Apparated to the apartment complex Hermione's mother was currently occupying. Five seconds later, the three boys and Hermione Apparated next to them, Hermione looking furious. "I wouldn't want to cross her," Lucius muttered to himself. Hermione grinned.  
  
They climbed the stairs, the non Muggle raised not wanting to trust the elevator. "Honestly," Draco huffed. "What in the world were they thinking, building something so rickety?"  
  
"It can hold two and a half tons," Hermione offered, reading the certification paper posted on the wall. They looked at her incredulously.  
  
They stood in front of Apartment number 210 and Lucius knocked on the door politely. The door opened and a burly man wrapped in nothing but a towel opened it. "What do you want?" he scowled.  
  
"Who is it, Steve?" a female voice called from the back. Hermione sneered.  
  
"It's me, Marissa, and some freaky friends," she shouted. The door was wrenched open and an attractive woman resembling Hermione stood there in just her bathrobe.  
  
_ If that's what you'll look like in twenty years, I'm in luck!_ Draco thought, his eyes wide.  
  
_ I may look like her but she's nothing like me!_ Hermione snapped.  
  
"Hermione, what are you doing here??" snapped Marissa.  
  
Hermione sneered. "Paul didn't want me, and wouldn't let me get my stuff, so I came here. Do you have anything of mine?"  
  
Marissa rolled her eyes. "I take it he's your guardian?" she snarled, indicating Lucius.  
  
"Yes." Lucius's voice was quiet and firm.  
  
"Well, come on it. It's all in the hall closet," Steve growled. He and Marissa walked off back into a bedroom. "Baby, I told you I didn't want your brat around," he whined.  
  
"I'm not letting her stay, lovely. Hell, I don't even want her. That bitch has been more trouble than she's worth. Little anal retentive slut." Hermione's face turned white as she heard the hateful words and her mouth twitched, her face closing off as tears threatened to flow.  
  
Lucius paled even further, if that was even possible. "She's going to die for that remark. Get your things, Hermione. We'll take care of this."  
  
"Oh hell no. I want to make her suffer, starting with..." she strode into the back bedroom, following her mother and lover. "AVADA KEDAVRA!!!" the teenage witch screamed, and a heavy body hit the ground. "Stupefy!!" she yelled again and another thump, much softer, was heard.  
  
Damien and Ron ran into the bedroom, both of them tripping over the quite dead body of Steve. Hermione held her mother carelessly by an arm and Apparated.  
  
"Let's go," Damien said, walking back out. Draco, Blaise, Angela and Lucius held shrunken objects in their hands, the remnants of Hermione's belongings.  
  
"We're ready," Lucius said and they all Apparated back to Slytherin Manor.  
  
"Where's Hermione's room?" Damien asked.  
  
Draco grinned. _How about we put it in your room, along with my stuff and we put a few more closets and dressers in there as well so we don't have to sleep apart ever?  
_  
Damien smirked. _Sounds good to me.  
  
_ Blaise, Ron and Angela looked at each other, identical smirks on their faces. _Sounds like fun. We're moving into Angela's room, _they thought.  
  
** Slytherin Manor, The Next Day   
  
** Damien, Draco and Hermione strode into the Dungeons, Blaise, Angela and Ron in tow. "I think it's playtime," Draco remarked coldly.  
  
Damien strode into the dungeon room that housed the Dursleys, followed by everyone else. Vernon cracked open a bloody, bruised eye. "Oh, it's you again," he slurred slightly, his obviously broken jaw preventing him from speaking too clearly. "Back for more?"  
  
Lily walked in behind the six teenagers. "Oh, you're here. What do you plan on doing?" she asked.  
  
"Can I kill them? Can I? Can I?" Damien pleaded, giving her his best puppy eyes.  
  
Lily snickered. "Only if you can make it last for more than five hours," she teased.  
  
"YAY!" he yelled, hugging her. The Dursleys stared at him fearfully.  
  
"Wha- wha- what are you going to do?" Dudley stuttered.  
  
"Oh, this neat little trick I learned. It makes you live any memory, or number of memories of my choosing... one of MY memories." Damien grinned evilly. Vernon's face paled and he sagged.  
  
"Oh shit..." the beefy man muttered.  
  
Damien stopped, focusing on all the horrifying memories he held, locked away. Tears came to his eyes as he focused, letting himself feel the pain and anger and helplessness. With a muffled snarl, he forced the memories out and into Vernon's head. The man arched and screamed, blood pouring from his nose and ears.  
  
"Whoops, didn't think that would have that great of an effect!" Damien shrugged and stood back as the Muggle screamed and jerked, slamming his head repeatedly on the wall behind him, whimpering with each blow.  
  
"Who's next?" Damien grinned sadistically. He stood in front of Petunia, who looked almost skeletal. "Aww, Auntie, you should eat more! Evansesco!" he snapped and she screamed, her skin bloating and swelling, her bones stretching with horrible creaks and snaps. "Winguardium Leviosa!" he snapped and she screamed as she floated in midair, looking like Aunt Marge had looked during the summer before third year. He released the chains with a wave of his hand and she floated to the ceiling. Hermione sent a gust of wind to the sobbing Muggle woman, laughing as she bounced off the walls, spinning around the room.  
  
Lily laughed when she saw her adoptive sister the size of the Goodyear blimp, bouncing around like a beach ball. "This is priceless!" she gasped, pulling out a camera. "I need a picture of this, just so I know it really happened!" She took several photos, grinning sadistically.  
  
Damien, Draco and Hermione turned as one to Dudley, all but rubbing their hands in anticipation. Ron and Blaise played Volleyball with the bloated Petunia, having shrunk her down to beach ball size. Angela curiously walked around the screaming, beefy Muggle, taking notes on the effects Damien's memories had on Vernon. Lily spiked Petunia, slamming her into the door, which opened as Severus poked his head in. "Lily, I -WHAT IS GOING ON??" he demanded, staring as his wife played volleyball with Blaise and Ron.  
  
"We're playing with my sister!" Lily chirped.  
  
"Whaa-" he asked stupidly, not comprehending in the slightest what was going on. "But you hate Petunia! Why are you playing with her???"  
  
Grinning, Lily bumped the 'ball' to Severus, who reflexively caught it. A thin wail came from the 'ball', and he studied it, his eyes wide with shock. "Is this- oh my word, this is ingenious!!!" he grinned, spiking the Petunia ball back to Lily.  
  
Damien grinned. "Hmmm, I think we should finish what Hagrid did to you when I was eleven," he mused. "And then, I can teach the Death Eaters to prepare a Luau!"  
  
Dudley whimpered, terrified. "What's a Luau?" Draco asked curiously.  
  
Hermione grinned. "This is going to be fun."  
  
She and Damien joined hands. "Now, Damien, to properly transfigure someone into an animal, you need to - MMMPGH!"  
  
Draco sweetly ended the scorching lip lock and grinned. "I love you, Hermione, but you need to shut up."  
  
"You- you - you love me?" she sputtered, her cheeks rosy.  
  
"Ummm," Draco blushed.  
  
"I feel left out," Damien pouted. "Besides, could we turn this whale into a pig? I'm getting hungry."  
  
"But the roast pig takes HOURS to prepare!!" Hermione protested. "If you're hungry now, how would you be able to wait?"  
  
"You're missing the point," Draco chuckled.  
  
"Really." Hermione crossed her arms. "What's the point, then?"  
  
"The point is that I want to transfigure this hunk of lard into a pig, so would you two please get over here?" Damien snapped impatiently.  
  
"Touchy!" Draco growled. "What suddenly crawled up your ass and died?"  
  
"I think he's feeling left out," Hermione smirked. "It's all right, Damien. I love you."  
  
Damien grinned slightly. "Tell me later. Right now, on to Transfiguration!"  
  
The three of them joined hands, Damien in the center, focusing their energies. Dudley started to scream as his body twisted, the three of them drawing out the agony as long as possible. After ten minutes of the obese boy's body undergoing excruciating transformation after transformation, a five hundred pound pig stood in his place, manacles around its neck.  
  
"Sweet!" Damien exclaimed. "Luau time!"  
  
Draco stared at the pig, confused. "What's a luau?"  
  
Hermione grinned again. "It's a Hawaiian tradition. Basically, it's a huge party that the entire island would be invited to, with at least one large pig roasted. It's incredible. I went to one with Katie when I was eight. You stuff yourself silly and then someone in a coconut bra and a grass skirt starts dancing."  
  
"You mean like this?" Damien asked mischievously, waving his hand. Immediately, Hermione's robe was replaced with an orchid and plumeria lei around her neck, flowers in her hair, a real coconut bra, and an ankle length grass skirt and bare feet. Hermione gaped at him, her face beet red.  
  
"Damien!!!" she snapped, scandalized. Severus looked at her and started laughing.  
  
"Lily, we should adopt that as the female Death Eater robes," he snickered.  
  
Lily elbowed him, passing the Petunia Ball to Ron, who was staring at his sister, completely shocked. It hit him in the head and ricocheted, slamming into the pig. The pig snorted and kicked, sending Petunia flying once again. The human ball floated to the ceiling and Lily conjured a string, looping it around Petunia's foot and tying it tight. She walked out of the Dungeons with her human balloon trailing behind her, floating merrily along the corridor. Severus followed her, with Ron, Blaise and Angela tagging along, leaving Draco, Damien and Hermione alone with what remained of the Dursleys.  
  
Hermione grinned and transfigured her clothing back to her customary scarlet and black robes, shaking her head. "I'll wear the grass skirt for the Luau, but not before," she teased.  
  
"The question is can you do the hula?" Damien asked with a smirk.  
  
Hermione laughed, transfiguring her clothing back. A strong rhythmic drum beat started and she swayed to the beat, her hips moving faster and faster. Draco watched her hips, transfixed, his mind immediately thinking of other things. Damien just laughed, eyeing her appreciatively.  
  
"How do you do that?" Draco asked, his eyes never leaving her hips.  
  
She stopped, to his extreme disappointment. "It's simple enough. You have to move your feet to the beat, and your hips follow. Then, you do the hand motions that tell the story of the song." She transfigured the grass skirt and coconut bra back to her robes.  
  
"All right," she said eagerly. "We've got the pig roast. Let's play with my good for nothing parents, shall we?"  
  
They merrily strode from the room and walked down the hallway, entering the next room in the Dungeons. Marissa and Paul Granger sat on opposite sides of the room, their clothing in disarray. Her bathrobe was ripped in several spots, and his tie was gone and his suit jacket had been shredded. Paul had deep grooves running down the left side of his face, and she had a bruise forming over a cheekbone.  
  
Hermione chuckled, a bitter, angry sound, that had them scrambling into standing positions. "What- Hermione Anne Granger!" Paul snapped. "What the fuck do you think you're doing??? Release us this instant!!!"  
  
"I think not," Hermione purred. "You see, Paul, Marissa, you've made my life a living hell for the last seventeen years and it's time for you to pay for what you've done."  
  
"Bull shit, young lady!!" Marissa yelled. "You're going to listen to your asshole father and let us go!"  
  
"Or what?" Hermione yawned. "Neither of you want me or have ever shown me a minute of love or kindness, so why should I? And, it's not like you can do anything to me."  
  
Marissa's mouth worked angrily, and Paul started to laugh. "You see, you silly bitch!" he snorted. "I told you she'd turn out like this, completely her own person!" He turned to Hermione, and his eyes held real warmth and approval. "Good for you, Hermione. It's true, we've never done ANYTHING for you. You have to understand one thing, however. Have I ever belittled you?"  
  
Hermione thought for a minute. "No," she admitted. "You just ignored me and let her hurt me, which was worse."  
  
He grinned sardonically. "Yes, but she was a one night stand gone horribly wrong, that resulted in blackmail into marriage. I hated you, still do, because she used you- being pregnant- to trap me in that hell for the last seventeen years. I don't expect you to do anything differently, but that is my side of the farce of a story."  
  
Damien scowled. "That didn't give you any right to take your anger out on her, you sadistic bastard," he growled.  
  
"I didn't take anything out on her. I removed myself from the situation so I wouldn't. No, taking anger out was her bitch of a mother's forte. That's where the yelling and belittling came in. I just wasn't there." Paul slid to the floor, sitting comfortably. "Well, get on with it. I presume you're going to torture us and kill us. It's actually interesting. I thought my biggest problem would be her trying to take half my practice. Guess I was wrong."  
  
"YOU COLD HEARTED BASTARD!!!" Marissa screamed, her voice shrill and unrelenting. "You FUCKED UP, GOOD FOR NOTHING-"  
  
"Now, now, flattery will get you nowhere," Paul shot back, grinning. "You're going to get what you deserve, PET," he smirked.  
  
Marissa let out a howl of rage and threw herself at Paul, claw like nails extended to do maximum damage. Hermione quickly put her in a full body bind. Somehow, the hateful woman's mouth continued to work and she screamed, snarled and shrieked at the top of her lungs.  
  
"Oh, and Hermione? Good job with the magic. I'm actually proud that you've done so well in your schooling," Paul announced grimly over his former wife's snarls and shrieks.  
  
The three of them stared at him, shocked. Hermione's mouth was wide open. "Thanks, Paul," she managed.  
  
"Well, considering that you were using the trust fund set up by MY Grandmother Anne, and I remember her fondly, I'm glad that someone in my bloodline managed to wind up magical. She used to tell me stories," he mused. Suddenly, he stared at her directly. "Before you do us in, would you care to hear some?"  
  
"Can you shut her up first?" Draco asked Hermione, gesturing at Marissa, who was still yowling in the corner. "I swear, was she a cat in a previous life?" he asked in disgust.  
  
"What should I do to her?" Hermione wondered. "Oh, I know, if its cat sounds she wants to make, then..." A tiny calico kitten peered up at Hermione from where Marissa had been sitting. "Would someone get Sirius? He has a new toy to play with," Hermione grinned evilly.  
  
"NICE!" Paul exploded. "You shut her up! Finally! It only took eighteen years!!!" Draco turned into his panther form and stalked over to the kitten, who stared up at him with huge eyes before purring against his leg. "Hey, someone should tell him that she'll hook her claws into him if he isn't careful," Paul warned. Draco held the kitten out at limb's reach and then picked her up, carrying her out of the dungeon room.  
  
"True. She'll play the whole helpless damsel act and then leech you for all you're worth," Hermione mused.  
  
Paul grinned. "That's her all right."  
  
"She really got you, didn't she?" Hermione asked sorrowfully. A loud screech was heard outside and they ran to the door, watching in amusement as Sirius, in his enormous dog form chased after the terrified kitten, running through the hallways and skidding into walls.  
  
Paul nodded grimly. "She was going through dental school, and I had just finished. We met at a party, and got absolutely plastered. Two months later, she knocked on my door, saying she was pregnant. I had just started practice, and was determined for the first three months to do the right thing, but I realized she was sleeping around and had hooked me into marriage. The funny thing was that I took a paternity test when you were three. You are my daughter, something I had highly doubted until then." Draco walked back in and made himself comfortable.  
  
"That still doesn't excuse you for what you've done," Damien said quietly. "I think at the very least an apology is in order."  
  
"What, no torture?" Paul asked in all seriousness.  
  
"I think I'd rather get to know you than kill you," Hermione mused. "We do have something in common, after all. We both have been on the receiving end of her abuse."  
  
"Besides, you have to tell her the stories!" Damien said eagerly, wanting to hear them just as much as Hermione did.  
  
"Well," Paul mused with a smile. "My Grandmother used to tell me this one all the time. It was actually a loose poem, passed down from generation to the next. How does it go again? Oh yes.  
  
_ Merlin's Heir shall join with Darkness  
  
In a time of great trouble and strife  
  
She will lead the darkness forward  
  
Bringing those she loves into the true Light  
  
Together, the Heirs of those most powerful  
  
Joined in love, they will vanquish the enemy of Magic  
  
And bring lasting peace to the divided nations  
  
Heir of Merlin, you will bring peace to enemies  
  
Together, bonded with those most Cunning, Brave and Wise,  
  
Your powers will multiply beyond anything ever seen  
  
Power to Power  
  
Blood to Blood  
  
Only if united you shall triumph  
  
Love and heart shall guide you  
  
First of magic in generations  
  
You will remold Darkness into true Light  
  
Bridge new and old  
  
Give life to the dead  
  
And lead those gone astray.  
  
_ She told me to memorize that, especially when she found out that Hermione had magical powers. She told me never to forget our Heritage, and that those of us with magical powers would be exceptionally powerful." Paul grinned slightly.  
  
"You're Merlin's Heir?" came the startled gasp of many voices from the doorway. They jumped and their heads shot up. Voldemort, Lily, Severus, Lucius, Narcissa, Sirius, Ron, Angela, Blaise and Remus stood just inside the doorway, their faces ashen and bloodless.  
  
Voldemort strode into the room, his face set. Everyone else just stood there for a second before joining him in the room. "You," he said abruptly. "What's your name, Squib?"  
  
"Paul Granger," Paul replied, slightly sneering at the word Squib.  
  
"You're sure that what you said is what's been passed down generation upon generation?" Voldemort asked urgently, almost desperately.  
  
"Word for word, through four different languages," Paul responded. "Why?"  
  
"Because I know that Prophesy," Lily said, walking forward. "It was passed down through the Founders' and Morgan Le Fay's lineage as well. We all, with the exception of Damien, and maybe Ron, heard it from the time we were born."  
  
Ron's eyes were wide. "I heard it too. Except, the end's different, instructions for the Heir of Hufflepuff. After _Bring peace to the lasting nations,_ it goes something like  
  
_ Heir of House most Loyal  
  
Hatred begins but must not end your life  
  
With the help of Heirs to those most  
  
Cunning, Brave, Wise, and Dark  
  
Your goals will be clear  
  
But uneasily obtained  
  
Love is stolen from you  
  
And Love is regained  
  
Family rejects you with the exception of one  
  
Only to rejoin you in time of great need. "  
_  
"You're Hufflepuff, Damien and Angela are Slytherin and Gryffindor,-" Lily began.  
  
"What?" snapped Damien.  
  
"Meet the Heir of Gryffindor, the ONLY Heir of Gryffindor," Lily said with a smirk, gesturing to Severus next to her.  
  
"So that's why I was able to pull the Sword from the hat!!!" Damien exclaimed.  
  
"WHAT???" Severus yelled, staring at him. "What SWORD???"  
  
"The Sword of Gryffindor when the Chamber of Secrets was opened my second year." Damien stared at his father's ashen face. "What?"  
  
Severus closed his eyes and recited, his mind numb.  
  
_ "Heir of House most Courageous  
  
Blood mixed with those most Sly  
  
An equal blend of both  
  
Snake Talker  
  
Griffin Commander  
  
Brings ancient weapons into play  
  
Lines will be drawn  
  
Sides are taken  
  
Weapons forged for war will rise again  
  
To give those who wield them power over all  
  
Power against Power  
  
Blood against Blood  
  
Your role is clear.  
  
Unite the world behind you  
  
Behind one symbol, one hope, one future  
  
Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Merlin and Morgan  
  
Unite beside you to rid the world of Darkness  
  
Brother, sister, lover, friend, parent, foe  
  
All will put aside their differences  
  
To forge the path to Greatness  
  
Immortal you become  
  
Your reign obliterates those that would do magic harm."  
  
_ Severus fell silent and Damien gaped at him. "That's ME??" he squeaked, his mind racing with the possibilities.  
  
"Yes," Voldemort said softly. "I was so excited when Lily and Severus were married because I knew how powerful you and your sister would be. But, it seems that not only are you two extremely powerful, you are the fruit of a one thousand, five hundred year old prophesy. This is incredible."  
  
Draco and Blaise looked at each other, grinning slightly. "Well, we have our Prophesies as well," Draco added.  
  
_ "Heir of House most Wise and Ancestor of Darkness  
  
Your path will be most dangerous of all  
  
Beloved to Heir of Merlin and Houses Sly and Brave  
  
Protector you shall become in time of need  
  
Taking your beloveds from true Darkness into true Light  
  
Uniting that which has been divided  
  
Completing that which has been separated  
  
Third part to the Whole  
  
Hated before Loved  
  
Rejected before Completed  
  
If you deny your fate all will be lost  
  
Without you Darkness succeeds."  
  
_ Blaise grinned and began hers, softly chuckling at the irony of it all.  
  
_ "Heir to Darkness and Wisdom, true child of Light  
  
You bring balance to Magic itself  
  
Raised in Good and Evil  
  
Light and Darkness  
  
You exist somewhere in between  
  
Role forever changing  
  
What was lost is gained through you  
  
What was broken you shall complete  
  
Past wounds you will heal  
  
Future pain you will ease  
  
In you others will find completion  
  
With Heir of House most Loyal  
  
And second Heir to Houses Brave and Cunning  
  
You will join as one to vanquish Darkness  
  
Power joins power  
  
Blood joins blood  
  
Heirs converge through you  
  
One bloodline to rule  
  
Side by side with the Heirs of the others."  
_  
Voldemort closed his eyes. "I need you to write those down," he muttered. "I need to see them side by side, not one right after the other. I think some have already been completed, while others have yet to even begin." Everyone nodded and they trooped upstairs.  
  
Paul just stood there, and Voldemort turned to stare at him. "Are you coming?" he asked.  
  
"You want me to come along? I thought I was going to die!" Paul exclaimed.  
  
Hermione grinned. "I think we can keep you around a little while longer, Paul. Besides, you owe me more stories."  
  
Paul shrugged. "Hey, if it keeps me alive, why not? Besides, for the first time, I'm realizing that my daughter is actually pretty cool."  
  
Damien rolled his eyes. "It took you this long to figure that out?"  
  
"Her dad's not the brightest, is he?" Blaise asked Ron. Ron shrugged.  
  
**Slytherin Manor, Two Days Later   
  
** "His birthday is in four days! We HAVE to have a party!" Lily hissed, looking around anxiously.  
  
"We already have the food," Hermione put in helpfully. Draco snickered and the adults just looked confused.  
  
"But who do we invite??" Voldemort asked.  
  
"Well, we could invite some of our classmates," Hermione said doubtfully. "But I don't know how well they'd take Damien being your Heir."  
  
"Hmmm. Well, Brandon Zambini knows the Finnegans and has been trying to recruit them, as well as the Thomases. The Longbottoms are almost hopelessly entrenched in the Order due to Bellatrix's overzealousness and mental instability," Severus groaned, shaking his head.  
  
"Father, I know you feel some loyalty to her. She was one of your first followers. But she's nuts!" Lily exclaimed.  
  
"True," Voldemort mused. "She goes off on her own far too often for my liking. I'll try to rein her in, but if she won't listen then I'll have to have her 'retired'. It's such a shame. She'll do almost anything I ask."  
  
"All right, so that Seamus boy and his friend Dean are definitely invited, as well as the students here. Draco, would you contact Pansy, Eric, Emily, Vincent and Gregory? I'd like for them to be here as well," Narcissa said eagerly.  
  
"Harry's never really had a birthday party before," Ron mused.  
  
"What?" Severus asked, aghast. "Not one??"  
  
"Well, Dumbledore always made him stay at the Dursleys for his birthday. We sent presents, but it isn't the same," Ron explained, Hermione nodding her agreement.  
  
"He wouldn't let him come to the Burrow. He said it was too dangerous and that Harry needed the blood protection."  
  
"Well, that settles it. We're having the biggest party possible. It's not every day your son turns seventeen," Lily vowed.  
  
**Slytherin Manor, Four Days Later   
**  
Damien grinned as he awoke early, nestled in the arms of Hermione and Draco. "I could wake up like this for the rest of my life," he mused quietly, tightening his arms around the two sleeping on either side of him.  
  
Voldemort walked in, smiling broadly. "Good Morning, Damien," he greeted.  
  
"Good Morning, Grandfather," Damien greeted, rolling over and prying himself from Draco's grip o' death and moved Hermione's head from his chest. He couldn't move. "Ummm, I'm kinda stuck, so I'm not going anywhere," he muttered.  
  
"I can see that," Voldemort said wryly, leaning against the doorjamb. "Anyway, I came to wish you a happy birthday. Happy Birthday, Damien."  
  
"Thank you, Grandfather," Damien said, surprised. _Someone remembered? How nice!  
_  
"Of course we remembered. It was one of the happiest days of my life, after all," he said with a smirk. "Anyway, don't bother getting up for class. We won't have them today. Make sure to tell your lovers that." With that, Voldemort spun and stalked out, his robes billowing gracefully behind him.  
  
Damien chuckled. "He certainly has the flair for dramatics," he muttered before tucking himself back under the down comforter and snuggling into Draco's shoulder.  
  
**Two Hours Later   
  
** Draco and Hermione awoke with a start. "Shit, shit," Draco swore, leaping out of bed, naked as the day he was born. Damien rolled over.  
  
"Come back to bed, Draco, Hermione," he said sleepily, making them pause to stare at him incredulously. "What?"  
  
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked. "We're late!!!"  
  
"Lessons are canceled, per orders of Grandfather. He came in earlier to tell me." Hermione rolled her eyes and snuggled back next to Damien. Draco walked back to bed.  
  
"You know, we're all awake," he said suggestively. Hermione and Damien slowly grinned, turning Draco's insides to mush.  
  
"That we are," Hermione purred, grabbing Draco by the hand and pulling him back to the bed as she straddled Damien's waist.  
  
Damien waved his hand while holding Draco's and Hermione's, locking and soundproofing their room. He turned back to his partners with a seductive smile.  
  
**An Hour Later   
**  
Severus and Lucius stood in front of Damien, Hermione and Draco's room, trying to open the door. "Stupid- blasted- thing!!!" Lucius snapped, tugging on the handle. "Alohamora!!" he yelled, pointing his wand directly at the lock. Nothing happened.  
  
Severus tried, going through every unlocking spell he knew, to no avail. "What the hell? Who locked this door? Merlin himself?" The door shot open suddenly and he jumped back.  
  
"No, all three of us, using conjoined magic," Damien said calmly in the open doorway, wearing just a bathrobe.  
  
"What the bloody fuck were you doing to require- wait, I don't want to know!!!" Lucius snapped, his face slightly pale.  
  
"You three are sixteen!" Severus muttered, wiping a hand over his eyes.  
  
"Correction, we are all SEVENTEEN now," Hermione stated easily from behind Damien, wrapped in Draco's bathrobe and looking quite pleased with herself.  
  
"Oh yes, Happy Birthday, son," Severus said with a smile.  
  
"Thanks, Dad," Damien grinned.  
  
"Damnit! Where's my bathrobe???" Draco yelled from their private bathroom. Hermione giggled. Severus and Lucius did a double take at 'her' attire.  
  
Draco stalked out of the bathroom dressed in nothing but a small towel wrapped around his waist. "Damnit!! Where- HERMIONE!!!" He walked up to her, scowling, his hand outstretched. "Give it now."  
  
Severus and Lucius coughed discretely.  
  
"What?" Draco snapped. "Oh. Um, hi." He turned slightly pink. "Do you need anything?"  
  
Severus shook his head. "Come down to the main ballroom when you're ready," he muttered, walking off.  
  
Lucius smirked, looking over the three freshly washed teenagers in front on him. "I think you rendered him speechless, Damien," he said with a laugh.  
  
"All right..." Damien said as his eye brow rose.  
  
"It's never been done before. I've never seen him so flustered." Lucius laughed.  
  
"I see..." Damien said, confused.  
  
Draco snickered. "So, Father, why aren't you stammering and disgusted?"  
  
Lucius grinned. "I have had seventeen years to resign myself to your abysmal behavior. Besides, Severus is a bit of a prude, for a Death Eater."  
  
Hermione chuckled. "How is that possible? Harry's described the Revels to us and you can't have any inhibitions at those."  
  
"Severus and Lily do not participate, as the spy thinks they are dead. That bastard must think Severus is dead in order to impersonate him, quite badly, I might add. Anyway, if wither of them had been there, the spy would have reported them."  
  
Draco slipped one around Damien's waist, the other around Hermione. "How is this abysmal, Father?" he asked innocently. 


	5. The Lesser of Two Evils Continued

"I can assure you, Draco's behavior is anything but abysmal. I have no idea HOW Pansy got her information but MMMPHG!" Draco effectively shut Hermione up with a well placed kiss.  
  
"Hermione, dear, do shut up, please. You do not need to boast about my abilities to my own Father," Draco said, his face red.  
  
Lucius snickered. The snickers became a chuckle and the chuckle turned into roars of laughter.  
  
Damien just pulled the door closed, leaving Lucius in the hallway to recover.  
  
Ten minutes later, the door opened again and the three of them, fully dressed, swept into the hall. Lucius stood up from where he had been sitting against the wall. "Are you three ready?" he asked simply. Damien looked slightly confused, but Hermione and Draco nodded enthusiastically.  
  
"Ready for what?" Damien wondered as Draco and Hermione dragged him down the stairs. "What's going on?"  
  
"You'll see," Draco promised.  
  
They dragged Damien into the doorway of the Grand Ballroom and Damien stopped, his eyes wide. "SURPRISE!!!" yelled over six dozen people, half of them students from Hogwarts.  
  
"Oh, wow, this is too much," he grinned openly, staring at the massive cake and mounds of presents with awe. "Really, this is too much," he insisted as Hermione dragged him into the room.  
  
Dean and Seamus walked over to him, grinning. "Hey, Damien," they said casually.  
  
"DEAN??? SEAMUS??? What are YOU two doing here???" Damien gasped, his eyes wide. "They didn't kidnap you or something, did they?"  
  
"Oh, yes," Voldemort drawled. "We had to kidnap your guests so they'd attend the party. Actually, we only had to mention that the Snapes, Voldemort and the Malfoys were footing the bill and everyone and his or her brother wanted to attend."  
  
Dean grinned at Damien's shocked expression. "Yeah, they've filled us in. Who would have thought that Voldemort would be throwing a birthday party for the former Harry Potter?"  
  
Seamus snickered. "Yeah, Mr. Zambini filled us in four days ago and we were all for coming here, especially when he said there wouldn't be any bloodshed tonight. We have a free pass to live it up old money style."  
  
Damien grinned and looked around. Remus and Sirius were tormenting Peter Pettigrew, Lucius and Narcissa where slipping something into the punch bowl and his parents were sitting on an oversized couch, kissing enthusiastically.  
  
"I think my parents have the right idea," Damien hissed to Hermione and Draco. They nodded, their faces showing matching grins. "Oh my god! NEVILLE??? LUNA???" he exclaimed. "How did they get him to come here???"  
  
"What did they give him?" Hermione wondered, incredulous.  
  
"Well," Dean said with a wink, "he was handed Bellatrix Lestrange pretty much on a silver platter."  
  
"Yeah," Seamus said in awe. "It wasn't like anything we'd ever seen before. The Dark Lord appeared at Neville's house while we were there, apologizing for his Death Eater's behavior and led her in, under the Imperious. He said that, while he couldn't bring Neville's parents back, he could give him their tormentor. He also said that she had been acting without orders and had actually been going against strict orders to not kill or torture anyone. Then, he asked if we would come to your birthday party. Imagine our surprise that Harry Potter, Boy Who Bloody Lived was really the Dark Lord's grandson!!! It was so surreal!!!!"  
  
Damien grinned as Neville walked over, taking it all in with wide eyes. "Damien, are you really Harry??" Damien obligingly turned back into Harry Potter for a few seconds before shifting back.  
  
"Yes, it's me. But, please, call me Damien. I really can't stand being Harry Potter."  
  
"Your grandfather told us what Dumbledore did to you and your family, and what the Dursleys did," Neville said softly.  
  
"Speaking of which, why don't you meet my parents??" Damien said, changing the subject with a grin, and ushering them over to the couch where Lily and Severus were still making out. "Mum, Dad, these are my friends from Hogwarts."  
  
Lily and Severus looked up. "Hi," they said in unison before going back to what they were doing. Blaise walked up and grabbed Damien's arm.  
  
"Damien, Voldemort wants you to cut the cake," she said impatiently, tugging on his arm. Damien turned around, everyone, including Lily and Severus, joined him at the table where a towering, five layer cake stood, seventeen candles glowing brightly.  
  
"Make a wish!!" Voldemort yelled enthusiastically.  
  
Damien grinned. "But I have everything I ever wanted," he mused. _Oh I know! I wish that I'll get to keep my family and that nothing will happen to take them away from me!_ With that, he blew out all his candles.  
  
_ Good wish,_ Draco said slightly sarcastically. _None of us are going anywhere, you dork.  
  
_ Damien looked hurt and Hermione elbowed Draco sharply in the ribs. _You dumb ass! Why do you THINK he made that wish!!!_ she berated him._ You didn't have to comfort him last year!!!  
  
Thank you for talking about me like I'm not here,_ Damien snapped while eating his slice of cake. _Mmmmm. Chocolate.  
  
Sorry, Damien,_ Hermione said, abashed, and still glaring at Draco.  
  
_ What did I do?? I just wouldn't have wasted that wish like that!_ Draco protested.  
  
_ The Hell??_ Damien snapped. _I spend almost sixteen years believing that I have no one and that everyone I love dies and I find out that's not the case! I'm not risking losing you!  
  
Oh._ Draco blushed slightly. _Sorry.  
  
It's all right,_ Damien said, still hurt. _I'm sorry I wasted that wish too. I mean, why would I want to keep you around?_ he asked snidely.  
  
Draco huffed and walked off, insulted.  
  
Hermione grinned slightly before following the sulking blond. _Right, my job is damage control, _she thought wryly, determined to find Draco before he sulked so hard he got worry lines or something.  
  
She returned with Draco five minutes later, the blond still sulking but agreeable to having some cake. They stayed to watch Damien open presents, and then the two of them slipped off again, alerting Damien that they would be in their bedroom if he needed them for anything.  
  
Damien, being the birthday person, had to stay the entire time of the party, despite the fact that Hermione and Draco had opened the mental link completely between the three of them and Damien could feel exactly what they were doing.  
  
_You evil, evil, people!!_ Damien snapped jealously. _Wait for me!!!  
  
I was under the impression that you didn't want me around, Snape, _Draco said smugly.  
  
_I'm SORRY!!!_ Damien wailed. _Can I come to bed yet???  
  
You have to make the appearance at your party,_ Draco reminded him, still smug.  
  
_ Damn the party and damn you!!_ Damien snapped weakly, his eyes glazed from the emotions and pleasurable feelings the link was invoking. He quickly opened presents, thanked the appropriate people profusely, and wondered when the party would be over.  
  
_ Poor Damien,_ snickered Draco.  
  
_Bite me!!! _snapped Damien angrily.  
  
_Ohh, kinky. Where?_ Hermione asked mischievously.  
  
Damien groaned, shaking his head and attracting the attention of the people at the party. _I swear as God as my witness that I'm gonna-_  
  
"Damien, is everything all right?" Lily asked, concerned.  
  
If looks could kill she would have been roasted on the spot. "Mother, they're teasing me," he ground out through clenched teeth.  
  
Lily smirked and Severus started laughing. "That's horrible, son," they managed to say before dissolving into giggles.  
  
Damien scowled.  
  
"Oh, come on. Another twenty minutes and it'll be over anyway, so would you chill out?" Lily asked once she was able to stop laughing.  
  
Damien scowled even more. The earth began to vibrate. "Can't you hear them?" he asked suspiciously.  
  
"Nope. Bondsmates can hear each other and keep it private. Oh, and calm down, would ya? You're floating and the floor is shaking a bit. You're scaring the guests." Lily looked around worriedly. Several people were staring at the ground with fear and fascination apparent on their faces.  
  
_Well, they're ummm- how to say this politely. They're not including me and it's pissing me off!!!  
  
_ Lily choked slightly and Severus gaped at him. _DRACO! HERMIONE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING????_ Lily snapped.  
  
_ Do you really want to know?_ Draco asked, laughing mentally.  
  
Lily closed her eyes in exasperation, just as the guests started trickling to their rooms, spending the night in order to prevent any drunken Apparation mishaps.  
  
Voldemort glided over to his visibly angry Grandson. _Go to them, Damien._ Damien shot a relieved look at his Grandfather and sprinted out of the hall, dashing up the stairs and into his room.  
  
Draco grinned at him provocatively. _It bloody took you long enough.  
  
Shut up and kiss me.  
  
Gladly.  
_  
** A Week Later, Riddle Manor   
  
** "My Lord, we have the Revealing Potion ready," Lucius said with a wry grin. Ron, Blaise and Angela held vials of the potion and Ron handed his to Voldemort, who studied it with a practiced eye.  
  
"Damien, explain again to me why we need this," Voldemort said with a negligent wave of his hand, handing it back.  
  
"The false Snape must be under it, or under several Glamours. We need to be ready. I for one want to know who he is," Damien explained again. Beside him Draco and Hermione nodded.  
  
"And when are we going to administer this?" Severus asked calmly  
  
"When you call him next," Draco said with an 'Isn't that obvious?' expression on his face.  
  
"I have a better idea." Voldemort stood up and began to pace.  
  
Damien's eyes sparkled. "Yes, Grandfather?"  
  
"Well, how about we do this?" Voldemort kept talking for almost an hour, laying out his plan. By the end of the hour, everyone was nodding excitedly. It was foolish and hare brained and relied on luck and chance, but it would work- extremely well.  
  
** September First, Hogwarts   
**  
Dumbledore sat in front of the school and sighed, his eyes straying to the empty place where his Gryffindor Golden Trio normally sat. _Those poor children, in the company of that monster. I did all I could to protect them from Voldemort, and what do I get? They wind up in his clutches. Remus, my last hope to get them out safely, is gone, joining Sirius in death. The Marauders, all but one left. Where did I go wrong? _He stared at his Potions Master with twinkling eyes. _At least my Heir is safe. That's all that matters.  
_  
Draco sat at the Slytherin Table next to Pansy, Greg Goyle, and Vince Crabbe wearily, wishing that he would start the Feast all ready. _Come on, old man,_ he silently jeered. _You can't be senile already, can you?  
  
Yes, he is,_ Damien and Hermione relied instantly, daring him to disagree.  
  
_ It's almost time now. Are you ready?  
  
Of course. I can't wait to shock the old man into a heart attack!_ Ron exclaimed exuberantly. Draco, Hermione and Damien mentally laughed.  
  
Dumbledore shook himself from his reverie and glanced at the students, his eyes twinkling benignly behind his half moon spectacles.  
  
_ Bull shit, old man. We see right through you,_ Draco thought savagely.  
  
"Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts," Dumbledore began, his brow furrowed. "I'd like to say our year will be uneventful but, sadly, that is not to be. We have lost three of our Gryffindors over the summer. Harry Potter, Ron Weaseley, and Hermione granger have been captured."  
  
**NOW!** Draco snapped.  
  
The three of them in hooded cloaks strode through the doors arrogantly, Blaise, Angela, Remus and Sirius right behind them. Dumbledore stood up in shock, his normally smiling face white with amazement. Damien (In Harry form) pulled off his hood, as did the other two former Gryffindors and Remus. The others remained hooded.  
  
"Harry, my boy, is that you?" Dumbledore asked. "You have Hermione and Ron and REMUS!! But you're dead!!!"  
  
"Don't forget me," Sirius said, dropping his hood with a feral grin. McGonagall passed out with a thud, and the false Snape stared at the two of them with tears falling down his face, unnoticed by anyone but the two Marauders. Dumbledore's face whitened and he started shaking.  
  
"Or us," the two girls chimed in, dropping their hoods as well. Dumbledore stared at them in confusion, trying to place Angela, but gave up and smiled.  
  
"I don't believe this! This calls for a celebration!" Dumbledore pulled out a party hat and streamers.  
  
Damien held up a hand. "You misunderstood, old man."  
  
"Harry?" Dumbledore asked, confused. He noticed for the first time that none of them were smiling, in fact they looked extremely angry.  
  
"Damien." Damien transformed back.  
  
"I don't understand. What happened to you?"  
  
"You didn't break me like you had hoped to, old man," Damien mocked him. He stared at the assembled students coldly.  
  
Draco stood up and walked over quickly, coming to stand with Damien and Hermione proudly. Hermione kissed his cheek while Damien wrapped an arm around his waist. The terrified students just stared as they called their magic, weaving it together to form an unbreakable bond. On their left, Ron, Blaise and Angela did the same, calling their magic to bond around them. Remus and Sirius looked proud in the background.  
  
With a thought, the six of them froze the assembled students and faculties, keeping them motionless but able to hear everything said and speak if they wanted to. Damien, Draco and Hermione walked forward, Ron, Blaise and Angela walking behind them and coming to stand next to them in front of the Head Table.  
  
"You have wronged us, old man," Angela and Damien accused. "You have taken us from the family that loves us and placed us in unacceptable conditions."  
  
Dumbledore strained against his bonds, trying to break them. "I did no such thing! What lies have he fed you?" he gasped, beginning to feel a bit scared.  
  
"You're lying again, old man," Hermione spat. "Tell the truth for once in your life."  
  
Draco waved a hand, and the false Snape floated into the center of them, looking as if he were about to wet his pants. Draco snickered. "Not so brave, are you now, spy?" he asked coldly.  
  
The professors gaped at what was unfolding before them.  
  
_Grandfather, it's time,_ Damien and Angela called.  
  
From Slytherin Manor, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy Apparated with Voldemort, Lily and Severus into the Great Hall arrogantly, their hoods thrown back and their faces set.  
  
The students as one quaked in terror, certain they were about to die. They stared back and forth between their Potions Master and the younger looking man who resembled him, terrified and confused. Neville, Dean, Seamus, and the others who had attended the party were in awe of the power displayed.  
  
"Hello, Albus," Voldemort purred.  
  
Dumbledore closed his eyes, and appeared to be praying. He at last opened his eyes wearily. "Hello Tom."  
  
Voldemort grinned openly, making two students faint as well as Professor Sprout. "What a welcome," he mocked. "Hello Tom. Is that it? Couldn't you give your old protégé some words of wisdom??"  
  
Everyone turned to stare at him incredulously, Lucius, Lily and Severus included. Damien mouthed 'Protégé??', almost falling over from the shock. Ron looked sick.  
  
"What?" Voldemort asked. "You didn't tell anyone??? That you created me? That your actions and manipulations set me on this path fifty years ago? I'm hurt, Albus, incredibly hurt. You shared your plans with me in my seventh year, thinking I would help you on your path to madness and I realized that you were hell bent on destroying the Wizarding World. It was you that brought us to this day. You and your lying, conniving, and manipulations. We aren't a chess set. You're blind, old man."  
  
"I don't know what you're talking about," Dumbledore gasped, his eyes cold and hard. "I assure you that you'll be spending time in St. Mungo's for insanity."  
  
Damien laughed, a cold, bitter sound. "Really, and how do you propose you're going to do that? You can't even move."  
  
Dumbledore, tried again, valiantly, to move his hands with no success.  
  
"Show them who the spy is, Damien," Voldemort said kindly.  
  
"Who's Damien???" Cho asked incredulously.  
  
"I am. Damien Alexander Snape, Grandson to Lord Voldemort. I used to be Harry Potter." Damien broke from his bondsmates' embraces and stood in front of her, a smirk firmly plastered on his face. She shuddered and passed out. Damien laughed and walked back to stand between Draco and Hermione once more. He walked over to the immobile false Snape. "Open wide," he teased, forcing the man's mouth open and shoving the potion down his throat.  
  
Nothing happened immediately, but after a few minutes the man's face began to change. Damien stared at him in first amazement and then pure hatred as the man returned to his normal face and form.  
  
"Well, well, well, it's James Potter," Voldemort said with a surprised smirk. "That is amazing. I thought I killed you sixteen years ago."  
  
"You BASTARD!!!" roared Damien. "YOU ABSOLUTE SICKK BASTARD!!!!" he slammed his fist straight into James Potter's sneering face.  
  
Sirius and Remus walked forward, their faces impassive. James stared straight at them, his expression stony. "Moony, Padfoot," he said conversationally.  
  
Remus knocked him straight across the face, as did Sirius. "Those are for the mutt and wolf cracks, you sick fuck," Sirius said with disgust. "You're all bloody mental. Some best friend you are. Kidnapping a child, passing it off as your own, having a Metamorphegus impersonate an already married woman as your wife and then getting her killed??? Prongs, what the hell is wrong with you??"  
  
James stared at him murderously, his mouth working. Damien quickly gagged the Headmaster, who looked as if he were about to tell James Potter to shut up.  
  
"You all are the mental ones," Potter spat. "All of you. He," he gestured towards Voldemort, "is a lying sick fuck and has you all under his spell. He's managed to convince Harry he's another person and-"  
  
"STOP LYING!!!" screamed Damien, uncontrolled magic coming off of him in waves. "STOP LYING!!!! IF YOU WERE REALLY MY FATHER YOU NEVER WOULD HAVE LET THEM HURT ME LIKE THAT!!!! THEY BEAT ME AND STARVED ME AND RAPED ME FOR 16 YEARS AND YOU PEOPLE DID NOTHING!!!! I HEARD YOU, DUMBLEDORE!!! YOU TOLD THEM TO BREAK ME!!!!! STOP LYING!!!!!" Tears started to fall down his face.  
  
"FINE!!!" screamed James. "That BASTARD stole the ONE woman I loved!!! I was just taking back what should have been mine!!!! You were supposed to be MY child!!!" He paused, but wasn't finished. With renewed strength, he began yelling again, twenty years of lies and deceits coming clean. "I was only taking what was MINE!!! I didn't even know which of my FRIENDS were the traitors, but now I find that ALL of them were!!! And then VOLDMORT AND SNAPE came to take you BACK!!! HOW DARE THEY!!! YOU'RE MINE!!!! And then I had to GIVE YOU UP TO THOSE FUCKING MUGGLES!!! They HATE magic!!! I didn't even KNOW you were being hurt!!!! NO ONE DID except for ALBUS!!!"  
  
Everyone listened as he screamed for another five minutes. Dumbledore closed his eyes and opened them, the twinkle gone. His eyes stormed and seethed with fury and Wandless magic began building around him. With a roar, he slammed his magic into the bonds. The bonds held fast. He sagged back, incredulous. "What did you do to these bonds? I've never felt anything this strong," he mused.  
  
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Voldemort sneered slightly. "It is time."  
  
Damien released the bonds on the students, and the faculty could only watch, helpless, as half of Gryffindor stood up and strode over to Voldemort. "My Lords," they intoned to the six teenagers and Voldemort. "Command us." Damien gestured for them to rise and stand behind them. They were instantly shielded from harm. The rest of Gryffindor House stared at them, confused and furious.  
  
The entirety of Slytherin was next, repeating what the Gryffindors had done. They too stood behind the six teenagers, Voldemort, Lily, Severus, Lucius and Narcissa, shielded from harm.  
  
Forty students from Ravenclaw were next, pledging their loyalty. Surprisingly, half of Hufflepuff followed them determinedly. "My Lord, Command us," they said as one, their voices shaking.  
  
"Are you sure?" Damien softly asked. "You can go back and we won't do or say anything."  
  
Susan Bones stared at him determinedly. "I speak for everyone here, muggleborns, half bloods and pure bloods alike. Muggles don't like us, at least, most of them don't. And Dumbledore lied. He took you from your family and let you be hurt so badly. He's horrible and what happened is horrible. We want this."  
  
Damien nodded. "Then take your places." They stood up and strode to the back, their heads held high. The remaining students stared at the 'traitors' with contempt.  
  
Voldemort smiled. "Well, that was a lovely trip down memory lane, don't you think?" he asked wryly. "Well, time to go. Come."  
  
As one they turned and strode out of the Great Hall. James Potter fell to the floor with a thud and the teachers could move again. They stared around, terrified and angry and confused. "What do we do now?" McGonagall asked softly. "How much was the truth?"  
  
No one answered her.  
  
**Slytherin Manor   
**  
The assembled two hundred students stood in the Grand Ballroom of Slytherin Manor. Voldemort and his Death Eaters stood in front of them, preparing to divide them into classes for schooling. They didn't know what tomorrow would bring, and they didn't care. They had made the choice, for better or worse. _Which to you is the lesser of two evils? Choose wisely. _They had, and that was all that mattered.  
  
  
  
A/N: All right, this story's done!!!! Well the first part, anyway. Look for the second part, Jungle Law, coming soon to a Fanfiction.net near you!!! To my reviewers, thank you thank you thank you!!! I love getting such nice reviews. I'm glad you think so highly of my writing skills. Props and cookies to everyone! Oh, and Sharee, kisses and make up sure. But, I am warning you, JK Rowling will have him hooked up with a girl... I don't know whether to be squicked or not... damn slash, makes me expect it in the canon!  
  
Oh, and I did the math. Voldemort as Harry's grandfather is highly possible, as not only do they look incredibly similar (same hair and eyes), but Voldemort is fifty four years older than Harry (the diary took him back fifty years and Tom was a 6th year, age 16, four years older than Harry). It also has Lily and James and Severus and the whole gang being only 20 – 22 years older than Harry, so Voldemort would have been thirty to thirty four at the time of Lily's birth. So, I made sure the story line was even possible.  
  
Oh, and good EVIL HARRY story is A New Darkness. I LIKE IT!!! Maybe you won't, but I think it's really good. So, I'm doing my part to actively promote a wonderful fic. (I told you, lilysunshine, I charge fifty bucks a promo so pay up!!!) Just kidding. Anyway, see you all next book! 


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